• Gold prices inched up on Friday as the dollar remained under pressure after minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting revealed that some policymakers were concerned about lower inflation.
• Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,291.50 per ounce, as of 0419 GMT. Bullion was down about 0.2 percent for the week.
• U.S. gold futures for December delivery dipped 0.1 percent to $1,291.10.
• “Investor appetite (for gold) is low even after slightly more dovish-than-expected Fed minutes. There just has not been enough to entice investors back into the market in great amounts,” ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.
• “Investors are still a bit cautious even though the December rate hike is well expected. They aren’t willing to put any aggressive decisions in place before that hike comes through,” he added.
• Many Fed policymakers expect interest rates to be raised in the “near term,” according to the minutes of the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting released on Wednesday.
• However, some members expressed concern over the inflation outlook and emphasized they would be looking at upcoming economic data before deciding the timing of future rate rises.
• Spot gold has aborted a bearish target at $1,283 per ounce as it seems to have found a support at $1,288 and is biased to break above a resistance at $1,296, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
• “Gold is moving in a very tight range with no clear driver for gold - either up or down,” Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau said.
• “So far we don’t see any driver in the short-term and it is likely to stay range-bound for some time.”
• The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rival currencies, was down 0.1 percent.
• Among other precious metals, silver rose 0.5 percent to $17.14 an ounce. Silver slipped 1.1 percent for the week, poised for its first weekly decline in three
• TD Securities’ quarterly average forecasts show that analysts expect prices to average $1,300 an ounce during the first two quarters of the next year and $1,325an ounce during the last two quarters.
Reference: Reuters, Scrap Register
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