Gold prices firm as dollar rally pauses

Thu Jul 07 2022
Lucy Harlow (4103 articles)
Gold prices firm as dollar rally pauses

Gold prices edged up on Thursday from nine-month lows touched in the previous session, after a break in the dollar’s rally alleviated pressure on bullion, but analysts warned that the relief was likely to be temporary.

Spot gold firmed 0.3% to $1,744.19 per ounce by 0303 GMT, as the dollar dipped slightly from the 20-year highs reached on Wednesday, lending support to greenback-priced bullion.

U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,741.80.

“With momentum pointing south, dip buyers are effectively trying to catch a falling knife,” said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.

″$1,721 and $1,700 are potential levels of support for bulls to consider taking a punt.. but until the dollar tops, it likely is a punt.”

In the prior session, strength in the dollar pushed bullion down as much as 1.9% to its lowest level since Sept. 30 at $1,731.00.

“This decline has room to continue,” Ilya Spivak, a currency strategist at DailyFX said, adding that if gold falls through support at $1,715 per ounce, it could head under the $1,700 figure to the vicinity of about $1,680.

A deteriorating inflation situation prompted Federal Reserve officials to rally around an outsized interest rate increase, minutes of the U.S. central bank’s June 14-15 policy meeting showed on Wednesday.

Trading in gold has been volatile over the past month as traders awaited a fresh catalyst for prices, which were hemmed into a range by support from a worsening economic outlook and the weight of an elevated dollar.

Higher interest rates and bond yields lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

World equities on Thursday were caught between growth worries and relief that a slowdown might put the brakes on interest rate hikes.

Spot silver rose 0.7% to $19.32 per ounce, platinum gained 0.2% to $857.53, and palladium climbed 1.2% to $1,927.92.

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