Gold eases as Fed’s hawkish tone lifts dollar and yields

Bengaluru — Gold inched lower in rangebound trade on Thursday, as the dollar and yields gained after the US Federal Reserve reiterated its aggressive stance to combat inflation, while uncertainty over Ukraine conflict capped bullion’s losses.

Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,920.82/oz by 5.18am GMT. US gold futures was up 0.1% to $1,924.20.

“Looking at the 10-year bond yield [gaining] and the US Fed’s hawkish tone, gold is lost in a range ... instead of going long in gold as a safe-haven asset, people have gone long on the dollar,” said Jigar Trivedi, a commodities analyst at Mumbai-based broker Anand Rathi Shares.

The dollar hovered near a two-year high against a basket of currencies after Fed minutes showed the central bank is preparing to move aggressively to head off inflation. A stronger dollar makes gold less attractive for other currency holders.

Many Fed officials said they were prepared to raise rates in half-percentage-point increments in coming policy meetings to tame inflation, according to the minutes released on Wednesday.

The benchmark US 10-year treasury yield hovered close to multiyear highs hit in the previous session, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. However, an “escalation in geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, people waiting for the Western countries to impose fresh sanctions on Russia — all these are supporting [gold],” Trivedi added.

Ukraine wants sanctions that are economically destructive enough for Russia to end its war after accusing some countries of still prioritising money over punishment for civilian killings that the West condemns as war crimes.

Spot silver fell 0.7% to $24.27/oz, platinum shed 0.5% to $948.34 and palladium rose 1.9% to $2,238.56.

Reuters