Gold up, but headed for worst month in seven on U.S. rate hike bets

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Bharat Gautam

Reuters – Gold rose on Friday as worrying U.S. economic data rekindled some interest in the safehaven metal, but was likely to log its biggest monthly drop since September on bets for aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

Spot gold was up 0.3 at 1,899.00 per ounce, as of 0247 GMT, but had lost about 2 so far this month. U.S. gold futures were up 0.6 at 1,902.10.

The disappointing U.S. GDP number could take some pressure off the Fed to tighten quite as aggressively as it has hinted, a rhetoric that has pressured gold in recent weeks, said Ilya Spivak, a currency strategist at DailyFX.

“That has given gold a bit of a lifelin, and knocked the dollar back just a bit. I dont expect these moves to continue though,” Spivak added.

Fed officials have aligned around plans to accelerate the pace of interest rate hikes this year but remain split over what could be the makeorbreak decision of where to stop to avoid dragging the economy into recession.

Higher shortterm U.S. interest rates and bond yields increase the opportunity cost of holding zeroyield bullion.

Gold prices were headed for their biggest monthly percentage drop since September 2021, as the dollar and U.S. 10year Treasury yields have strengthened this month.

A stronger dollar makes greenbackpriced gold less attractive for other currency holders. The dollar steadied off a 20year high it reached against rivals in the previous session. [USD]

“The freight train, otherwise known as the U.S. dollar, will have to slow down at some point. And that could bode well for gold when it does,” trading firm City Indexs senior market analyst Matt Simpson said in a note.

Spot silver gained 0.1 to 23.16 per ounce, platinum dipped 0.5 to 915.19, and palladium rose 0.5 to 2,243.74. All were set for monthly falls.

Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Vinay Dwivedip

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