Gold retreats as firmer Dollar halts Fed-inspired rally, but posts weekly gain



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Gold retreats as firmer Dollar halts Fed-inspired rally, but posts weekly gain

On Friday, the precious yellow metal US gold futures’ prices fell more than 1 per cent as a stronger American currency put an end to the bullion’s momentary rally that was largely stemmed off the US Fed’s decision not to hike rates in a near term.

In point of fact, the US Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday following a two-day long policy meet of the Federal Reserve that a rate hike might not be on the cards in a near term while maintaining the Central Bank’s dovish stance, eventually spurring up a rally in Gold futures’ prices.

On top of that, gold prices spiked to a two-week high on Thursday, as Fed’s Powell had told that the US labour market recovery still had miles to cover before the Central Bank could taper of fiscal supports for the economy.

Besides, gold seemed to be losing its safe-haven appeal against an ongoing inflation-surge, as a 3.5 per cent rise in core PCE price Index (Personal Consumption Expenditure) last month on an annualized basis, the Fed’s key inflation indicator, had botched to allure investors to swamp on the metal widely seen as a hedge against higher inflation.

Gold drools as US Dollar strengthens

Citing statistics, on Friday’s commodity market wind-down, spot gold prices pummelled 0.8 per cent to $1,814 an ounce, while US gold futures’ prices had wrapped up the day 1.0 per cent lower to $1,817.20.

On the week, spot gold gained roughly 0.7 per cent despite Friday’s decline, Among other precious metals, silver fell 0.3 per cent to $25.45 an ounce, but reported its first weekly gain in four, palladium contracts added 0.5 per cent to $2.659.19 amid a squeezed supply chain.

Platinum futures’ prices, in tandem, dropped 1.1 per cent to $1,048.81. Meanwhile, addressing to the flipside of the coin, a senior market strategist at RJO Futures, Bob Haberkorn said, “Gold still looks strong at these levels and the fact the Fed didn’t really say anything that is going to change course on asset purchases or rate hikes adds strength to the market”.