Spot gold was down 0.2% at $2,034.89 per ounce by 1108 GMT, with prices hovering below last session’s high since March 9, 2022. U.S. gold futures fell 0.1% to $2,052.30.
Gold is lower in the session as the opportunity cost of holding bullion is high since bond yields are rising, said Peter Fertig, an analyst with Quantitative Commodity Research. [US/]
Euro zone yields were near a month-high as focus shifted to the European Central Bank’s tightening path.
The Fed, meanwhile, considered a rate-hike pause in March in the face of the sudden collapse of two U.S. regional lenders, yet inflationary pressures were seen as more important. The collapse pushed bullion over $2,000.
Gold is considered a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainties, but higher interest rates dim non-yielding bullion’s appeal.
“Gold is placed in a solid positive trend and the first resistance zone is placed at $2,070-$2,075, on the historical high, reached in March 2022,” Carlo Alberto De Casa, external analyst at Kinesis Money, wrote in a note. Limiting gold’s losses, the dollar slid to a one-year low after data this week showed consumer price index rose less than expected and boosted hopes for a Fed pause.
Investors await U.S. retail sales later in the day and gold could head towards its all-time high, should the data come in soft enough, said Matt Simpson, a senior market analyst at City Index.
Spot silver was up 0.8% at $26.00 per ounce, after rising to a year’s high of $26.07 earlier in the session, and is set for a fifth-weekly gain.
Platinum fell 0.1% to $1,045.95, while palladium was down 0.1% at $1,498.38, both due for weekly rises.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen, Ashitha Shivaprasad and Kavya Guduru in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Shilpi Majumdar)
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