PRECIOUS-Gold prices edge up as dollar eases

Shafaq News/ Gold prices ticked up on Thursday as the U.S. dollar eased, with traders awaiting new indications on the Federal Reserve’s rate hike plans.

Spot gold was up 0.1% to $1,806.28 per ounce as of 0105 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,812.50.

The dollar index slipped 0.1%. A weaker greenback makes bullion less expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

Bullion prices dropped 1% on Wednesday, pressured by a stronger dollar and higher Treasury yields.

Investors’ focus now shifts to the U.S. weekly initial jobless claims data due at 1330 GMT.

Gold has risen nearly $200 from a more than two-year low hit in September on expectations that the U.S. central bank would slow its pace of interest rate hikes, increasing the appeal of the non-yielding asset.

Top bullion consumer China on Monday scrapped its COVID-19 quarantine rule for inbound travellers even as hospitals and funeral homes were under intense pressure from surging COVID-19 cases.

Contracts to buy U.S. previously owned homes fell far more than expected in November, diving for a sixth straight month in the latest indication of the hefty toll the Fed’s interest rate hikes are taking on the housing market as the central bank seeks to curb inflation.

Spot silver gained 0.2% to $23.58, platinum slipped 0.1% to $1,006.98 and palladium rose 0.2% to $1,787.04.