Gold opens steady against Fed hike bets

Gold prices were little changed on Friday, after moving away from a two-week high they hit the day before, as bets on more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve are rising after a sharp increase in interest rates. of consumer prices.

At 09:16 GMT, spot gold was little changed at $1,826.40 an ounce, but was on track to post a weekly gain of close to 1%. US gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,827.70.

Stronger-than-expected inflation is raising the risk of faster rate hikes.said Soni Kumari, commodity strategist at ANZ, adding that the gold market is reacting to this and a stronger dollar.

The Fed is facing increased pressure to take a stronger stance against inflation after an unexpectedly large jump in US consumer prices reinforced views that the central bank is behind the curve.

Expectations of a firm response from the Fed next month buoyed the dollar and sent global stocks tumbling, driving benchmark 10-year Treasury yields higher on Thursday but they have since fallen.

Higher returns and rate increases reduce bullion’s appeal by increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing gold, while a higher dollar makes it less attractive to foreign buyers.

In other precious metals, silver fell 0.7% to $23.02 an ounce, but was still on track to post a weekly gain of about 2.4%; platinum rose 0.1% to $1,026.98; and palladium was down 0.5% at $2,242.98, on pace to post its second weekly loss.