GOLD prices were little changed on Thursday (Oct 10), while traders await a key US inflation print due later in the day to gain further clarity of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy stance.
Spot gold was nearly flat at US$2,609.72 per ounce, as at 0040 GMT, after easing for the previous six sessions. Prices scaled a record high last month.
US gold futures also held steady at US$2,626.70.
The US Consumer Price Index for September is due at 1230 GMT and Producer Price Index data on Friday.
Markets currently see an 80 per cent chance of a 25-basis-point rate reduction in November and a 20 per cent probability the Fed keeps rates on hold, according to CME’s FedWatch.
Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
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A “substantial majority” of Fed officials at the September meeting supported beginning an era of easier monetary policy with an outsized half-point rate cut, but agreed that further easing will be data-driven, according to minutes of the session.
San Francisco Fed Bank president Mary Daly on Wednesday said one or two more rate cuts this year are likely if the economy evolves as she expects. While, Dallas Fed Bank President Lorie Logan said she wants smaller reductions ahead, given “still real” upside risks to inflation and “meaningful uncertainties” over the economic outlook.
On the physical side, record-high gold prices dashed the Indian bullion industry’s expectations of a lucrative festival season after their hopes were boosted by a deep cut in import duty two months ago to the lowest in a decade.
Spot silver edged 0.1 per cent higher to US$30.54 per ounce. Platinum added 1.1 per cent to US$955.20, while palladium inched 0.1 per cent lower to US$1,038.75. REUTERS
