Monday, December 4

Gold slips as dollar holds steady ahead of Powell speech, ECB rate decision


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Gold prices slipped on Thursday weighed

down by a stronger dollar, while cautious investors awaited

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comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and

interest rate decision by the European Central Bank later in the

day.

Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,714.99 per ounce by 0403

GMT, after rising nearly 1% on Wednesday.

US gold futures inched 0.1% lower to $1,725.50.

The dollar index was steady near a two-decade high

touched in the previous session.

“A lot of eyes are glued to what Powell will say tonight and

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whether there’s any view on what the Fed will do at the end of

the month,” said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based

dealer GoldSilver Central.

Gold hasn’t really regained its shine as a safe-haven with

liquidations seen in exchange traded funds (ETFs) and many

investors are on the sidelines because of the Fed raising

interest rates, Lan added.

Powell will participate in a discussion at Cato Institute

conference later in the day, which could be his final public

comments before the Sept. 20-21 policy meeting.

Fed officials said on Wednesday they still are not convinced

that the worst of the US inflation scare has passed, hinting

at continuation of the central bank’s aggressive rate hikes.

The Fed is expected to lift its policy rate by another 50 or

75 basis points this month.

Investors were also expecting a hefty rate increase from the

ECB to combat soaring inflation at its policy decision at 12:15

GMT, followed by President Christine Lagarde’s news conference

at 12:45 GMT.

Spot silver fell 0.3% to $18.45 per ounce, platinum

was down 0.5% at $861.94 and palladium eased 0.2%

to $2,039.17.

(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry

Jacob-Phillips and Rashmi Aich)



financialpost.com