London — Gold steadied on Thursday below a two-week high hit in the previous session as the dollar slid after the US Federal Reserve showed a less hawkish stance on rates than expected. The Fed raised its key rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday and flagged at least two more increases this year, stopping short of pointing to three increases that some economists predicted. The dollar dropped to a month low against a currency basket on Thursday, before recovering slightly and moving into positive territory. A stronger dollar makes dollar-priced gold costlier for holders of other currencies. Although the Fed’s outlook for 2018 was seen as bearish, the central bank was otherwise upbeat on the economy, revising up rate projections for 2019 and 2020 and raising the estimated longer-term "neutral" interest rate a touch. "[Gold’s] initial reaction to the Fed was positive, but then reading through to 2019 and 2020 you see potentially a faster pace of [rate] tightening, so it’s like giving wi...
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