Gold prices fell to a three-week low on Friday, as the dollar’s rise and expectations of a US Federal Reserve interest rate hike reduced the attractiveness of the yellow metal.
By 04:51 GMT, spot gold fell 0.3% to $1,752.89 an ounce, following falling to its lowest level since July 28 at $1,751.01 earlier in the session. During the week, the precious metal fell 2.7%, and is heading to record its first weekly decline in five weeks.
US gold futures also fell 0.3% to $1,766.20.
“Markets are expecting interest rates to rise further and of course a strong dollar is affecting gold prices at the moment,” said Brian Lane, managing director at Gold Silver Central.
The dollar rose to a one-month high once morest rival currencies, making gold more expensive for buyers of other currencies.
Several US Fed officials said Thursday that the central bank needs to continue raising borrowing costs to control high inflation.
Gold is strongly affected by the rise in US interest rates, which leads to an increase in the opportunity cost of acquiring the yellow metal that does not generate returns.
Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.9% to $19.35 an ounce and is heading for the largest weekly percentage decline since late January.
Platinum fell 0.4% to $907.84 an ounce, and palladium fell 0.3% to $2149.35.
Source: cnbcarabia
