Gold prices rise for second week as dollar slides

Sat May 28 2022
Lucy Harlow (4103 articles)

Gold prices rose on Friday as the dollar continued to weaken, notching a second straight weekly rise for bullion amid cooling bets for a more aggressive Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,853.39 per ounce. U.S. gold futures were up 0.2% at $1,851. For the week, gold closed up 0.5%.

Gold this week has been supported by a moderation somewhat in market expectations from the Fed’s monetary policy for next year, and most importantly the weaker U.S. dollar, said Ilya Spivak, a currency strategist at DailyFX.

There is price support at $1,830 on the downside and on the topside the next key level is around $1,885, Spivak added.

Minutes of the Fed’s May 3-4 policy meeting released on Wednesday highlighted, as the market expected, that most participants favoring additional 50 basis point rate hikes at the June and July meetings.

Higher short-term U.S. interest rates and bond yields raise the opportunity cost of holding bullion, which yields nothing.

The dollar index fell en route a second straight weekly decline, making bullion less expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

“We need a clearer signal that hard economic data is turning sour for the Fed to even think about a pause (in tightening)… hence gold investors are still reluctant to push the envelope significantly higher,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

“If the Fed signals a pause, then gold will move much higher, but until they do so, we could be range trading for a bit.”

Lucy Harlow

Lucy Harlow

Lucy Harlow is a senior Correspondent who has been reporting about Equities, Commodities, Currencies, Bonds etc across the globe for last 10 years. She reports from New York and tracks daily movement of various indices across the Globe