By Harshit Verma
(Reuters) – Gold was headed for its first weekly drop in four on Friday, as reduced bets of an early interest rate cut in the U.S. boosted the dollar and bond yields, while investors awaited a key employment report.
Spot gold was up 0.1% at $2,045.57 per ounce, as of 0426 GMT. It has declined about 0.8% so far in the week.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.1% to $2,052.40.
“Gold is down this week as yields and the dollar rebound. That’s because markets have been scaling back Fed rate cut expectations since the start of the new year,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.
The dollar index rose 0.1% against its rivals and was headed for its best week since July, making bullion more expensive for other currency holders. [USD/]
Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields, meanwhile, held above 4% and were on track for their best week since October. [US/]
Federal Reserve officials were convinced that inflation was coming under control but noted an elevated degree of uncertainty about the rate cut outlook, minutes of the Fed’s Dec. 12-13 meeting showed.
“The Fed has already signalled rate cuts this year, so now the question is of degree. Once the excesses of Nov-Dec are corrected, the overall trend this year still favors gold gains (for now),” added Spivak.
Lower rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
Market participants have tempered their expectations of monetary policy easing by the Fed, pricing in about a 65% chance of a rate cut by March, compared with a 90% chance a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Investors now await the U.S. non-farm payrolls report due at 1330 GMT for further direction on rate outlook.
Spot silver rose 0.5% to $23.11 per ounce, while platinum slipped 0.7% to $950.12.
Palladium rose 0.6% to $1,042.68 after an eight-session slide.
(Reporting by Harshit Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich)
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