rose Gold prices, today, Friday, are heading for a second consecutive annual loss, As the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) raised interest rates, it severely weakened the attractiveness of non-return bullion.
Gold in the spot market rose 0.2% to $1818.64 an ounce at 03:09 GMT.
US gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,824.6, according to Archyde.com.
“For most of the year, gold has been under pressure from Fed tightening, but by the end of the year it saw some recovery and got a lifeline on expectations that the Fed may slow the pace of rate hikes,” said Ilya Spivak, director at TestLife, Ilya Spivak. .
Gold is heading for an annual decline of 0.6%, with the dollar emerging as a preferred safe haven amid huge increases in federal interest rates.
The dollar index posted its best annual performance since 2015, making gold too expensive for foreign exchange holders.
However, gold prices rose by about $ 200 from the lowest level in more than two years recorded in September, and are on their way to achieve their best quarterly performance since June 2020, in the hope that the US central bank slows the pace of its interest rate increases.
The bank raised interest rates by 50 basis points in December, after four consecutive increases of 75 basis points each.
Higher rates increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.
“In 2023, gold prices will see a lot of volatility, but they won’t move much further than that because they will be stuck between a strong dollar and lower Treasury yields,” Spivak said.
As for other precious currencies, the price of silver in the spot market rose 0.4% to $23.97, and the price of platinum settled at $1054.86, while palladium did not witness a significant change at $1814.75.
Silver and platinum are heading for an annual increase, while palladium is heading for a 4% annual decline.