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.
Gold futures 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 U.S. 10-year Treasury yields 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 dollar, 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%.
Source : Investing.com