Gold scales six-month peak on sliding dollar and bets over Fed pause

Bengaluru — Gold prices climbed a six-month peak on Monday, supported by a weaker US dollar and bets that the US Federal Reserve is done with its interest rate hike cycle, while the focus shifted to US inflation data due later this week.

Spot gold was up 0.4% at $2,009.69 per ounce by 4.04am GMT (6.04am). US gold futures rose 0.3% to $2,009.50. “What’s moving gold is the lower US dollar because of the recent soft data,” said Kyle Rodda, a financial market analyst at Capital.com.

“Economic figures coming out of the US this week, on the growth and inflation front, will make or break a case for whether gold remains above $2,000.”

Gold rose sharply earlier in the session, hitting as high as $2,017.82 an ounce. However, “it might have been just characteristic of a sort of thinner Asian market”, Rodda added.

The dollar index edged down 0.1% against its rivals, not far from a more than two-month low level touched last week, making gold less expensive for other currency holders.

Market focus now shifts to the revised US third-quarter GDP figures due on Wednesday and the US PCE price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, on Thursday.

Earlier this month, another inflation print showed weaker-than-expected consumer inflation, boosting hopes that the Fed could begin easing monetary conditions sooner than expected.

Traders widely expect the Fed to leave rates unchanged in December, while pricing in about a 60% chance of a rate cut in May next year, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool. Lower interest rates diminish the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing gold.

Meanwhile, Japan’s October services PPI came in at 2.3%, up from a revised 2% in September, adding to the belief that the Bank of Japan will end negative rates in 2024.

Spot silver gained 1.3% to $24.61 per ounce and platinum fell 0.3% to $927.48. Palladium rose 0.1% to $1,069.85 per ounce.

Reuters