Gold steadied on Friday before speeches by US Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen and European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi, which were expected to give more clues on monetary policy. Gold is highly sensitive to rising interest rates, as these increase the opportunity cost of holding nonyielding bullion, while boosting the greenback. Ahead of the speeches, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank president Robert Kaplan called for patience on raising interest rates any further but urged speed in reducing the bank’s balance sheet. Spot gold was barely changed at $1,287 per ounce by 2pm GMT after falling as low as $1,278.54, its lowest since August 16. "Trading is going to be erratic until the speeches by Yellen and Draghi," said Sucden Financial analyst Kash Kamal. "Very little has happened over the past week in gold and I would expect some volatility before the speech but things should settle down as there is also low volumes." Monday is a bank holiday in the UK. "There could b...
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