London — Gold steadied on Friday after a week of lacklustre trading as the market awaits a possible hint on US interest rate hikes from US third-quarter GDP data expected later in the day. Spot gold was little changed at $1,266.40/oz at 9.32am GMT while US gold futures slipped 0.2% to $1,267.10. A strong GDP reading for the world’s biggest economy would strengthen the case for a rate increase this year, making nonyielding assets such as gold less attractive while boosting the dollar and US treasuries. "We think it’s going to be relatively strong [GDP] data. Good news for the US economy will see some downward pressure on gold," said ETF Securities commodity strategist Martin Arnold. "In the near term that makes a bullish dollar so in the weeks leading up to elections and Fed meeting in December gold could be under significant pressure." The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was barely changed and trading near nine-month highs at 98.793. US int...
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