Gold slips to more than one-month low

Bengaluru — Gold prices hit a more than one-month low on Thursday ahead of a key US data, which is expected to provide cues on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path, while a thaw in US-China trade tension also weighed on bullion’s appeal.

Spot gold fell 0.8% to $3,153.09/oz by 3.03am GMT, after hitting its lowest level since April 10, earlier in the session.

US gold futures slipped 1% to $3,156.90.

The US and China agreed to reduce tariffs drastically and adopted a 90-day pause, de-escalating a potentially damaging trade war between the world’s two largest economies. However, global markets still remained uncertain about the outcome after 90 days.

US-China trade truce was good news to the market, so people were looking at risky assets more now, said Brian Lan, MD at GoldSilver Central, Singapore.

“We are looking at the $3,150 as the next key level. If that doesn’t hold, then $3,100 is likely.”

The spotlight is now on the US producer price index (PPI) data, due at 12.30pm GMT, following the softer-than-expected consumer data.

Fed policymakers are leaving interest rates where they are while they try to assess how US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade negotiations will affect prices and the economy. So far, the hard data is giving them little to go on.

Fed chair Jerome Powell is also set to deliver a speech later in the day.

Markets are expecting 50 basis points of Fed interest rate cuts this year, starting from October instead of July, as previously expected.

Gold, traditionally seen as a hedge against economic and political uncertainty, thrives in a low-interest-rate environment.

Spot silver was down 0.7% to $31.98/oz, platinum rose 0.5% to $980.35 and palladium gained 0.1% to $951.90.

Reuters