Gold price rises as prospects for lower US rate hikes put pressure on the dollar

Gold prices extended their gains for a third straight session on Thursday as the dollar fell after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the US central bank may slow the pace of its interest rate hikes. as early as December.

Spot gold gained 8.3% in November, ending its seven-month losing streak, as investors applauded Powell’s comments at the Brookings Institution. However, Powell also warned that the fight against inflation is far from over.

Spot gold was up 0.6% at $1,778.94 an ounce as of 10:18 GMT. US gold futures were up 1.7% at $1,778.70.

The safe-haven dollar was down 0.5%, making gold less expensive for buyers of other currencies.

Market participants now see a 91% chance that the Fed will raise its interest rate by 50 basis points at its next meeting in December.

But Carsten Menke, an analyst at Julius Baer, ​​said the rally after Powell’s statement was “overkill” considering markets had already rallied on expectations of a slowdown in rate hikes earlier this month.

Investors’ attention is now focused on non-farm payrolls data from the US Department of Labor due for release on Friday, after private payrolls figures in the country pointed to weakness in the labor market.

Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.6% to $22.07 an ounce, platinum rose 0.2% to $1,034.75 and palladium added 0.5% to $1,889.63.

With information from Reuters