Bengaluru — Gold rose on Friday as the dollar held steady near a three-month high and, with Asian stocks subdued, staying on track for a second consecutive weekly gain ahead of the US third-quarter GDP data expected later in the day. Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,270.91/oz at 4.30am GMT. It was up about 0.4% for the week so far. US gold futures rose 0.2% at $1,272.00/oz. But recent robust US data had strengthened the case for an early interest rate hike, pressuring gold prices, and strong GDP numbers could push prices lower, said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong’s Wing Fung Financial Group. US interest rate futures are implying a more than 78% chance of the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates by December, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Higher interest rates raise the opportunity cost of holding nonyielding assets such as gold and boost the dollar, in which the metal is priced. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was s...
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