Gold prices fell today, Wednesday, recording the longest series of monthly losses since 2018, as they came under pressure from large interest rate increases from major central banks around the world.
Spot gold fell 0.66% to $1,711.70 an ounce by 18:50 GMT, heading towards ending August with a loss of about 3% in the fifth consecutive month of declines.
US gold futures fell 0.6% to settle at $1,726.20 an ounce.
Edward Moya, chief analyst at OANDA, said it has become increasingly clear that central banks are going to go fast in tightening monetary policy due to unprecedented inflationary pressures, which is not good for gold.
Federal Reserve official Loretta Mester said the US central bank would need to raise interest rates above 4% by early next year.
On the other hand, inflation in the Eurozone has jumped to another record high and will soon be in the double digits, signaling a series of big rate hikes.
Gold is known as a safe investment in times of economic and geopolitical crises, but the high interest rate environment makes the non-yielding yellow metal less attractive to investors.
Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 2.60% to $18.01 an ounce, taking its losses over the month to 11% and recording the biggest monthly drop since September 2020.
Platinum fell 0.58% to $842.60, while palladium fell 0.7% to $2072.50.