By Harshit Verma
(Reuters) – Gold prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by a weaker dollar, while investor attention turned to U.S. economic data for clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate trajectory.
Spot gold was up 0.6% at $2,328.61 per ounce by 1122 GMT. U.S. gold futures were up 0.1% at $2,341.00.
“A softer U.S. dollar is allowing spot gold to keep its head above the $2,300 level for the time being,” said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Exinity Group.
The dollar index slipped 0.3%, making dollar-priced bullion more attractive for buyers holding other currencies.
However, gold may “run into sub-$2,300 waters as markets continue unwinding geopolitical risk premiums. A healthy technical pullback had also been long overdue for the precious metal,” Tan said.
Bullion prices have fallen over $100 since hitting a record of $2,431.29 on April 12, and have dropped about 3% or $66 this week so far.
“There’s been some pressure on some investors, especially on the institutional side to perhaps raise some cash and they’ve done that by selling some of their commodity positions,” said Marex analyst Edward Meir.
Investors’ focus has shifted from geopolitics to U.S. economic data as they seek clues on whether the Fed would have room to cut rates this year, and by how much.
The Fed’s rate-setting committee meets on April 30-May 1. Before that, the U.S. first-quarter GDP data is due later on Thursday and the March core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) data is due on Friday.
Spot silver rose 0.9% to $27.42 per ounce. Spot platinum was up 0.3% to $905.34, after falling for the previous nine sessions. Palladium fell 0.3% at $998.42.
BHP Group said it will offer Anglo American’s shareholders a premium of 31%, and carve out the London-listed group’s iron ore and platinum assets in South Africa, where the world’s largest listed miner has no activities.
(Reporting by Harshit Verma and Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Barbara Lewis)
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