By Seher Dareen
(Reuters) – Gold held near four-month lows as traders awaited key U.S. inflation numbers later in the day after a slew of strong data prints and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials raised bets of more rate hikes.
Spot gold was steady at $1,907.78 per ounce by 0316 GMT while U.S. gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,915.80.
A stronger dollar, along with the chance of a recession being slim, was weighing on gold, said Brian Lan, of Singapore dealer GoldSilver Central.
The dollar index was steady near a two-week high hit in the previous session, making gold expensive for holders of other currencies. [USD/]
Data through the week painted a picture of a resilient U.S. economy, easing some worries of an impending recession but building expectations of the Fed staying hawkish.
Bullion tends to gain during times of economic or financial uncertainty, but higher interest rates dim non-yielding gold’s appeal.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell at a central bank meeting in Madrid on Thursday indicated that the central bank was likely to raise rates at least twice more by the year-end.
Investors now see an 87% chance of a 25-basis point (bps) hike in July, according to CME’s Fedwatch tool.
Bullion was also en route to its first quarterly fall in three, down 3.1% so far. The central bank has raised rates by 25 bps thrice this year, pausing in June.
Benchmark Treasury yields edged lower from their three-month high on Thursday. A rise in treasury yields makes gold less attractive by raising the opportunity cost of holding it. [US/]
Market participants are awaiting personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data for May, with core PCE expected to be 4.7% on a year-on-year basis, well above the Fed’s 2% target.
Yet, gold could perform well in the long term, as “we are almost at the end of the Fed interest rate hike, which supports gold prices… and we don’t think the economy will continue to be strong, despite equities having risen,” Lan highlighted.
Spot silver rose 0.2% to $22.59 per ounce, platinum gained 0.7% to $900.22, while palladium was up 0.8% to $1,239.00.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Janane Venkatraman)
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