© Archyde.com. Gold bars in Mendrisio, Switzerland, on July 13, 2022. Photo: Denis Balibos/Archyde.com
(Archyde.com) – It fell on Wednesday for the fifth consecutive month, as strong US economic data and comments from the Federal Reserve on monetary tightening signaled further interest rate hikes, reducing the attractiveness of the non-yielding yellow metal.
Prices fell 0.1 percent to $ 1721.59 an ounce by 0735 GMT, reaching its lowest level since July 27, when it recorded $ 1718.70 an ounce.
US gold futures fell 0.2 percent to $1,733.10 an ounce.
“The Fed does not intend to ease (monetary) much in the near future. Its focus is now on inflation,” said Ilya Spivak, currency strategist at DailyFX.
He added that this contributes to the decline in gold prices and the rise.
New York Federal Reserve Chairman John Williams said on Tuesday the US central bank would likely need to bring its policy rate “somewhat above” 3.5 percent and keep it there until the end of 2023.
The latest data, which revealed an increase in the number of US jobs in July, and a return in consumer confidence that exceeded expectations in August, contributed to strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve will remain committed to its tightening monetary policy.
Among other precious metals, spot transactions fell 0.7 percent to $18.37 an ounce, declining by more than nine percent in August, recording its largest monthly decline since September 2020.
Platinum settled at $847.45, but it is heading towards a monthly decline of more than five percent. And he gained 1.6 percent to $2,121.27 an ounce.
(Prepared by Noha Zakaria for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Ali Khafaji)