• Gold fell to over one-month lows on Thursday as the dollar rose on expectations of a U.S interest rate hike in December, while platinum was trading at a discount to palladium for the first time since 2001.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,278.36 per ounce at 0607 GMT, after hitting its lowest since Aug. 16 earlier in the session, as strong U.S economic data took sheen off the yellow metal.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell 0.5 percent to $1,281.30.
• “In the near term, we’re still looking at interest rates for direction,” said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
“Unless North Korea does something, I think gold will be under pressure.”
• In the latest development on North Korea, France’s foreign minister on Wednesday urged U.S. President Donald Trump to focus on raising diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang.
• The dollar and U.S. bond yields rose after President Trump proposed the biggest U.S. tax overhaul in three decades and as strong economic data added to the case for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this year.
• Silver fell 0.3 percent to $16.69 per ounce, after dropping to $16.64, its lowest since Aug. 16.
• The recent retreat in gold prices probably is not over, with the Federal Reserve sending a message to markets that policymakers are not done hiking interest rates just yet, analysts said.
Views are more mixed on whether a further decline is a correction or something more ominous, such as an outright bear market.
• Robin Bhar, metals analyst at Societe Generale, also sees further price weakness but as part of a bearish trend, rather than simply a temporary correction. The yellow metal could fall back into a range of between $1,250 to $1,200 an ounce, he said. As of late Wednesday morning, spot gold was around $1,286 an ounce.
Reference: Reuters
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