Gold rises and is poised for a second weekly gain in early trade

1 Sep 2023 , 10:34 AM

Following a week of data that culminates with the crucial employment report later that day, the likelihood of U.S. interest rate hikes this year has decreased, which helped gold rise on Friday and position it for a second consecutive weekly gain.

After prices reached one-month highs on Wednesday, spot gold increased 0.2% to $1,942.56 per ounce by 13:30 GMT, and it appeared that it would gain more than 1% on a weekly basis. Futures for U.S. gold increased 0.2% to $1,969.40.

With the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields expected to fall towards the end of the week, gold will become more appealing to holders of foreign currencies.

The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates constant in the coming month despite the largest gain in U.S. consumer spending in six months in July.

Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve, argued against more interest rate increases on Thursday, claiming that the country’s monetary policy is already stringent enough to bring inflation back down to 2% over a ‘reasonable’ period.

While underlying price rise declined as anticipated in August, euro zone inflation remained stable, creating a confusing situation for the European Central Bank.

According to a poll released on Friday, Japan’s factory activity declined in August for the third consecutive month.

Other precious metals were also expected to see weekly rises. Platinum increased by 0.3% to $970.23, palladium increased by 1.6% to $1,233.63, and spot silver increased by 0.4% to $24.53 per ounce.

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