Gold heads for best week in five after Fed surprise

Singapore, Reuters (20/9) -- Gold was hovering near one-week highs on Friday and was on track for its biggest weekly gain in five weeks after the U.S. Federal Reserve postponed the tapering of its bullion-friendly stimulus measures. Spot gold had eased 0.1 percent to $1,363.19 an ounce by 0018 GMT, not far from a one-week high of $1,374.54 hit on Thursday. It has gained nearly 4 percent this week. Earlier this week, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke refused to commit to begin reducing the central bank's bond purchases this year, and instead went out of his way to stress the programme was 'not on a preset course'. Many had expected a $10 billion cut to the $85 billion monthly bond purchases.  Bullion, which has dropped nearly 20 percent this year in anticipation of a wind down of the bond purchases, has benefited from short covering and technical buying since the Fed's statement on Wednesday. Societe Generale said it remained firmly bearish on gold despite the surprise from the Fed. The firm kept its average gold price forecasts unchanged at $1,225 per ounce for the fourth quarter and about $1,100 for 2014.  India has called a meeting of top officials from the finance and trade ministries in New Delhi on Friday to break a two-month impasse on gold imports that has crimped supply and pushed up prices in the world's biggest gold consumer. SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.10 percent, or 0.88 tonnes, to 912.00 tonnes on Thursday.