[Click here for an interactive chart of gold prices]
“The safe haven metals need a fresh fundamental spark to heighten investor and trader concern and it’s just not happening. The sideways grind that we’ve seen… has invited some chart-based selling,” Kitco’s senior analyst Jim Wycoff told Reuters.
On Thursday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said a half-point interest rate increase “will be on the table” when the central bank meets in May.
Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields extended gains on the Fed’s hawkish tone in its effort to tame soaring inflation. Meanwhile, the dollar index was close to its highest since March 2020.
On the flip side, apart from the uncertainty driven by the Ukraine war, “traders and investors are still kind of edgy as the stock markets have become wobbly, which is also an underlying bullish factor for the metals markets,” Wycoff added.
“Gold is likely to trade in the $1,900 to $1,950 an ounce range over the medium-term,” Rupert Rowling, market analyst at Kinesis Money, said in a note.
(With files from Reuters)
