Gold On 6 Month High

Gold matched a six-month high on Thursday on speculative buying after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, but the market lacked follow-through support.

The market was likely to trade in a broad range, watching the currency and oil markets for direction, analysts said.

"Short-term sentiment is now good. It's not just gold, but oil is a lot higher as well. Definitely, investment flows are coming into commodities," said Jeremy East, head of metals trading at Standard Chartered Bank.

Spot gold rose as high as $654.70 an ounce before easing to $652.60/653.60 by 1057 GMT, slightly higher than $652.10/653.10 in New York late on Wednesday, when it gained around one percent on a weaker dollar.