Gold Down Over an Expected Fed Hike

By Zhang Mengying

Investing.com – Gold was down on Monday morning in Asia while investors braced for a 75-basis-point interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve this week.

Gold futures edged down 0.16% to $1,724.55 by 12:25 AM ET (4:25 AM GMT). Gold prices have dropped more than $350, or 16% since scaling above the $2,000-per-ounce level in early March due to the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes and the dollar’s rally.

The dollar which normally moves inversely to gold, inched down on Monday morning, while the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hovered near eight-week lows.

“The fall in U.S. yields on the back of global recessionary concerns has underpinned gold,” said SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes.

“Today, we could be seeing a touch of indecision ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee which is likely to underscore the Fed dilemma of fighting inflation at the expense of growth.”

Investors are now keeping an eye on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting which concludes on Wednesday, and markets are pricing in a 75-bp interest rate hike.

The European Central Bank (ECB) joined its global peers to bring down soaring inflation and raised interest rates by 50 bps. It is expected to deliver another hike until inflation falls back to its 2% target.

In other precious metals, silver fell 0.57%, platinum edged down 0.20%, and palladium fell 1.59%.