Gold Prices Hold Steady Ahead of Federal Reserve Meeting

Gold prices remained stable on Tuesday despite the rise of the dollar and Treasury bond yields, as investors awaited the minutes of the latest meeting of the Federal Reserve to get more clues on the timing of interest rate cuts.

The immediate price of gold settled at $2018.03 per ounce by 0341 GMT. Most American markets were closed yesterday on Monday due to a holiday.

Futures contracts for gold rose by 0.3 percent to $2029.10 per ounce.

The dollar index rose by 0.1 percent, and the yields on 10-year treasury bonds rose to nearly four percent, making dollar-denominated assets less attractive to foreign buyers.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting for January are scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

Despite significant progress in curbing inflation in the United States, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, Mary Daly, said “there is more work to be done” to ensure price stability.

Another official at the bank warned of the risks of delaying interest rate cuts for a prolonged period.

Last week’s higher-than-expected U.S. consumer and producer price data dashed hopes for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in March.

The decrease in interest rates reduces the opportunity cost of holding alloys.

As for other precious metals, platinum decreased by 0.6 percent to $893.16 per ounce in spot trades, while palladium fell by 0.8 percent to $946.41 per ounce. Silver also dropped by 0.4 percent to $22.93 per ounce.