Gold prices near two-week low as dollar firms after Fed's July minutes

Federal Reserve's July meeting suggested the rise in Central Bank's rates to tame inflation; gold dropped to its lowest in August, dollar rose 0.2 percent hitting a three-week high

By Brijesh Patel

(Reuters) - Gold prices were near a two-week low on Thursday as the dollar gained after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting suggested the central bank would keep raising rates to tame inflation.

Spot gold was flat at $1,761.69 per ounce, as of 0645 GMT, after falling to its lowest since Aug. 3 at $1,759.17 on Wednesday.

U.S. gold futures edged 0.1% higher to $1,775.50 per ounce.

The dollar rose 0.2% towards a three-week high hit earlier this week, making gold more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

"Gold seems to be stuck in a range between $1,750-$1,800. The expectation of Fed rate hikes and inflation starting to cool off is weighing on gold prices," said Kunal Shah, head of research at Nirmal Bang Commodities.

"On the other hand, there are lot of uncertainties on the geopolitical front. So combination of these factors is not able to lead to any breakout in gold."

The minutes of Fed's July meeting showed that the central bank was contemplating paring back the pace of future rate hikes in line with a slowdown in inflation but saw "little evidence" yet that pressures were easing.

Traders are now pricing in around a 57.5% chance of a 50-basis-point rate hike by the Fed in September and a 42.5% chance of a 75-bp increase.

Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hovered near one-month high.

Gold prices have fallen more than $300, or nearly 15%, since scaling above the key $2,000 per ounce mark in early March due to the Fed's rapid rate hikes to alleviate inflation pressures.

Indicative of sentiment, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.32% to 989.01 tonnes on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, spot silver fell 1.1% to $19.62 per ounce, platinum dipped 1% to $914.77 and palladium slipped 0.3% to $2,134.13.

 

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Vinay Dwivedi)