Gold dips as U.S. bond yields edge up and dollar firms
NEW YORK (Jan 14) Gold prices slipped on Friday, weighed down by an uptick in Treasury yields on prospects of U.S. interest rate hikes and a stronger dollar.
Newly casted ingots of 99.99% pure gold are stored after weighing at the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin
Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,816.22 per ounce by 13:56 ET (1856 GMT). U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled down 0.3% at $1,816.50.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR firmed, while the dollar rose 0.4% against its rivals =USD, making bullion costlier for overseas buyers. USD/US/
Gold gained briefly after the release of data showing retail sales tumbled by 1.9% in December as Americans struggled with shortages of goods due to supply chain bottlenecks and an explosion of COVID-19 infections.
The weak data this week could eventually either cause a sell-off in wider markets or prompt the Federal Reserve to curb rate hike expectations, and gold gets a tailwind either way, Streible added.
However, overall declines in the dollar this week put bullion on track for a weekly gain of about 1.1%.
“Considering that markets will ultimately remain intensely focused on the Fed’s exit, fewer sources of upside flow in the coming weeks could leave gold prices vulnerable to a consolidation”, TD Securities said in a note.
Spot silver fell 0.9% to $22.86 an ounce, and was en route to post a 2.5% weekly gain.
Platinum was down 0.2% to $967.32 and was set to gain about 1.2% this week, while palladium XPD= fell 0.3% to $1,882.12 and poised for a weekly drop of nearly 2.7%.
Reuters
