Gold rose toward $1,950 an ounce on Thursday, reaching its strongest levels in nine months amid a general dollar weakness, as softening US economic data, mixed corporate earnings, and recent comments from Federal Reserve officials signaled a less aggressive monetary tightening ahead. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said that upcoming rate moves and an expected continued decline in inflation left policy &ldquo pretty close&rdquo to being &ldquo sufficiently restrictive&rdquo . Markets are expecting the Fed to deliver a smaller 25 basis point rate hike at its Jan. 31-Feb. 1 policy meeting. Investors now look ahead to a raft of US data that could guide the rates outlook, including the Q4 GDP growth rate, durable goods orders, the PCE price index, and personal income and spending data. Gold is highly sensitive to the rates outlook as higher interest rates raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and vice versa.