By Asha Sistla
(Reuters) – Gold inched lower in range-bound trade on Thursday, as the dollar and yields gained after the U.S. Federal Reserve reiterated its aggressive stance to combat inflation, while uncertainty over the Ukraine conflict capped bullion’s losses.
Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,920.82 per ounce by 0518 GMT. U.S. gold futures was up 0.1% to $1,924.20.
“Looking at the 10-year bond yield (gaining) and the U.S. Fed’s hawkish tone, gold is lost in a range…instead of going long in gold as a safe-haven asset, people have gone long on the dollar,” said Jigar Trivedi, a commodities analyst at Mumbai-based broker Anand Rathi Shares.
The dollar hovered near a two-year high against a basket of currencies after Fed minutes showed the central bank is preparing to move aggressively to head off inflation. [USD/]
A stronger dollar makes gold less attractive for other currency holders.
Many Fed officials said they were prepared to raise rates in half-percentage-point increments in coming policy meetings to tame inflation, according to the minutes released on Wednesday.
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hovered close to multi-year highs hit in the previous session, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. [US/]
However, an “escalation in geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, people waiting for the Western countries to impose fresh sanctions on Russia – all these are supporting (gold),” Trivedi added.
Ukraine wants sanctions that are economically destructive enough for Russia to end its war after accusing some countries of still prioritising money over punishment for civilian killings that the West condemns as war crimes.
Spot silver fell 0.7% to $24.27 per ounce, platinum shed 0.5% to $948.34 and palladium rose 1.9% to $2,238.56.
(Reporting by Asha Sistla in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
