Trepidation gives gold a boost

Gold prices gained ground Wednesday, benefiting from a combination of fear and hedged bets. Equities have been hammered since the national election which kept President Barack Obama in the White House -- a president seen by many as unfriendly to business. That provided the fear. But gold also rose as an Obama administration is seen as likely to enact another round of quantitative easing, which puts pressure on the U.S. dollar, which in turn is favorable to gold. On Thursday, gold added $17.60 or 1.03 percent to reach $1,731.60 per troy ounce. Silver gained 67 cents or 2.1 percent to $32.34 per ounce. The euro dropped to $1.2746 from Wednesday's $1.2771. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 79.46 yen from 80 yen.