Gold Up, but Set for First Weekly Loss in Three Over Strong U.S. Yields By Investing.com

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was up on Friday morning in Asia but strengthening U.S. Treasury yields put bullion on course for its first weekly loss in three.

were up 0.26% to $1,953.30 by 12:26 AM ET (1:35 AM GMT).

“The outlook for gold is subdued as rising rates obviously weigh, but until we break the trading range of between $1,930 to under $2,000 in a convincing manner … we really don’t have much of a direction for gold,” Tiger Brokers, Australia chief strategy officer Michael McCarthy told Reuters.

Benchmark also continued an upward trend as the U.S. Federal Reserve set a hawkish tone on tightening policy. This drove bets that the central bank will hike interest rates aggressively to curb inflation.

A stronger U.S. dollar could also pressure gold, while on the other hand, the geopolitical uncertainty remains a support and the gold price is stuck in the middle of those two conflicting currents, said McCarthy. The , which usually moves inversely to gold, inched down on Wednesday.

Gold is down about 1.3% for the week so far. The yellow metal almost hit the $2,000 mark on Monday over safe-haven demand and increasing worries over inflation but has since retreated to hit a two-week low during the previous session.

“With stagflation moving from a potential tail risk to reality, investors worldwide are turning to gold as a keen portfolio diversifier,” SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said in a note.

In other precious metals, silver fell 0.6% and platinum edged down 0.2%, with both poised for weekly falls. Meanwhile, palladium rose 0.4%.