By Ashitha Shivaprasad
(Reuters) – Gold prices fell on Friday, but were on track for a fourth straight weekly gain as expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September lifted bullion’s appeal.
Spot gold was down 0.8% to $2,425.48 per ounce by 0511 GMT. It has risen 0.6% so far this week, and hit an all-time high of $2,483.60 on Wednesday.
U.S. gold futures fell 1.2% to $2,427.60.
The U.S. dollar inched higher 0.1% and benchmark 10-year Treasury yields also drifted higher, putting pressure on bullion. [USD/] [US/]
Gold is currently seeing some profit-taking, but things look positive in the medium-term amid political uncertainty and as rate cuts approach, said Kelvin Wong, OANDA’s senior market analyst for Asia Pacific.
Markets see a 98% chance of a Fed rate cut in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Non-yielding bullion’s appeal tends to shine in a low-interest rate environment.
“Official announcement of the Fed’s easing of monetary policy is expected to further boost gold prices. Consequently, prices could potentially reach a record $3,000 by autumn 2024,” said Julia Khandoshko, CEO at European broker Mind Money.
Earlier this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said recent inflation readings “add somewhat to confidence” that the pace of price increases is returning to the central bank’s target in a sustainable fashion, suggesting a turn to rate cuts may not be far off.
However, Fed Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said on Thursday, “we don’t have price stability right now”.
“As physical markets gradually become used to higher prices and so are convinced the uptrend is here to stay, gold’s fundamentals should improve,” Metals Focus said in a weekly note. [GOL/AS]
Spot silver fell 1.7% to $29.56 per ounce and platinum eased 0.3% to $964.51, while palladium rose 0.2% to $931.25. All three metals were headed for weekly declines.
(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillipsm, Subhranshu Sahu and Varun H K)
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