US gold futures firmed 0.6% at $1,799.10.(File)Gold gained today but remained on course for its biggest weekly decline since mid-November after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated more interest rate hikes were needed to curb inflation.Spot gold rose 0.7% to $1,789.06 per ounce by 11:55 a.m. ET (1655 GMT), and has lost about 0.6% this week.US gold futures firmed 0.6% at $1,799.10.”A lot of traders are focusing on both the Fed and ECB, which signalled that more tightening is going to happen and we’ve seen global bond yields rise significantly, and that’s why gold is having a down week,” Edward Moya, senior analyst with OANDA, said.The Fed had on Wednesday raised interest rates by 50 basis points as expected, but its Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank would deliver more interest rate hikes next year, despite growing recession worries. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England signalled similar rate-hike strategies.Gold is considered a hedge against inflation, but rate hikes raise the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding bullion.On the day, gold was firmer on a corrective bounce from Thursday’s strong selling pressure, Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals said in a note.”Gold may be getting a mild safe-haven bid as the U.S. and global stock markets are selling off in the wake of still-hawkish major central banks.”Commerzbank sees gold falling back towards $1,750 per ounce until it is clear that the Fed’s cycle of interest rate hikes is over, and expects prices to rise to $1,850 by the end of 2023.Spot silver was nearly flat at $23.06 per ounce, but was down about 1.7% so far this week.Platinum lost 1.8% to $988.25. Palladium dropped 3% to $1,737.44, after falling more than 8% in the previous session, and was headed for its biggest weekly drop in five months.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)Featured Video Of The DayTech Layoffs Globally, But Big Hiring In Fintech And E-Commerce In Chennai
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