Gold prices have clawed back some losses in Asian trading hours on Friday from yesterday’s low but still under downside pressure – Yellen’s hawkish statement and Greece deals were both against the bullion.
Spot gold was last at $1,144.3/1145.1 per ounce, down $0.3 from yesterday’s close after hitting its lowest since November 2014 at $1,142.70 on Thursday afternoon session.
US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen remained her hawkish tone on interest rates hikes but has avoided mentioning the specific time of such movement.
“My own preference would be to be able to proceed to tighten in a prudent and gradual manner,” she said.
In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to maintain the current minimum bid rate from the eurozone.
“It reaffirmed its intention to fully implement all its monetary policy measures. Concretely, President Mario Draghi reiterated the Governing Council’s intention to continue the monthly asset purchases of 60 billion euros until at least September 2016,” said Investment, Strategy & Research (ISR).
Mr Draghi has announced yesterday that ECB would increase its support to Greek banks by expanding emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) of 900 million euros to a total of nearly 90 billion euros.
“Austerity bill is passed overwhelmingly by Greek parliament. French parliament also votes largely in favor of the plan to help Greece. We expect the German Bundestag to do so as well today,” said Investment, Strategy & Research (ISR).
In European data, final consumer inflation of 0.2 percent was as expected as was the core figure at 0.8 percent. The trade balance of 21.2 billion euros fell just short of consensus.
Weekly US jobless claims were as expected at 281,000 while the Philly Fed manufacturing index at 5.7 missed the expected 11.9. Today awaits month-on-month consumer price index (CPI) and residential building permits in the US.
The US dollar index was last at 97.52, up 0.13 while key Asian stock indexes were moving in positive territories – NIKKEI 225 rose 0.21 percent and CSI 300 climbed 2.06 percent while Hang Seng Index rose 1.07 percent on Friday.
As for other metals, silver was last at $15/15.05 per ounce, platinum unchanged at $1,006/1,011, while palladium at $627/632 rose $2.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), gold for December delivery increased slightly to 231.3 yuan per gram from 231 on Thursday’s close.
The post Gold licks wounds on expectations for Fed rates hike appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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