By Anushree Ashish Mukherjee
(Reuters) – Gold prices fell more than 1% on Thursday, pressured by a rebound in the dollar and higher Treasury yields, while traders looked forward to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech for more cues on rate cuts.
Spot gold was down 1.2% at $2,480.75 per ounce, as of 10:09 a.m. ET (1409 GMT), after hitting a record high of $2,531.60 on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures slipped 1.2% to $2,517.80.
“We have an uptick in the two-year yields and an uptick in the dollar index… Gold has had an incredible run three sessions ago. It made new all-time highs, so it’s natural for traders to take some profits on this type of move,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures.
The dollar index rose 0.5% against its rivals after data showed U.S. jobless claims rose more than expected last week. Benchmark U.S. 10-year yields also climbed.[USD/][US/]
Market focus now shifts to Powell’s speech on Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. On Wednesday, minutes from the Fed’s July 30-31 meeting showed that the officials were strongly inclined toward a rate cut next month.
“If Chair Powell can express greater confidence for a September rate cut, such dovish signals should trigger another spike for gold,” said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Exinity Group.
At least two Fed officials on Thursday expressed their support for a rate cut at the U.S. central bank’s policy meeting next month. Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
Most brokerages forecast a 25 basis points interest rate reduction by the Fed in September, while J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo expect a 50 bps rate cut.
“The outlook for ETFs remains positive, as anticipated U.S. rate cuts are likely to drive renewed flows into gold ETFs,” said Zain Vawda, market analyst at MarketPulse by OANDA.
Spot silver shed 1.3% to $29.24 per ounce, platinum fell 0.9% to $954.65 and palladium lost 0.7% to $944.50.
(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee and Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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