Gold set the worst performance in six years, stable over $ 1800
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Gold was on track to record the worst performance in six years, although prices remained above the $ 1800 per ounce key level in thin trading on Thursday as a weak dollar counteracted pressure from fixed government interest rates.
Spot gold was down 0.1% to $ 1,801.40 per ounce by 0353 GMT. US gold futures fell 0.2% to $ 1,802.30.
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“The kind of back and forth over the last 48 hours is less indicative of any particular fundamental catalyst and much more of the fact that the market is very thin and that volatility is amplified by the absence of liquidity,”[ads1]; said DailyFX currency strategist Ilya Spivak.
Gold prices reached their highest level in one month on Tuesday, but fell to a low of one week already the next session before closing unchanged, and were heading for their largest annual percentage decline since 2015.
American gold bars on display REUTERS / Mike Segar (USA)
The first week of January will provide directional clues because gold is caught between how fast and in which direction inflation is going and what, and how much, the US Federal Reserve is doing to limit it, Spivak said.
Benchmark 10-year US government interest rates strengthened near a one-month high, which increased the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-paying gold.
However, which strengthened the metal’s appeal, the dollar index stabilized near a low level of one month as investors overlooked an increase in Omicron variants and favored more risky currencies.
Asian stocks got off to a sluggish start as the spread of Omicron confused the last trading day of the year for many stock exchanges around the world.
Weekly US initial data on unemployment claims, a key measure of the country’s economic health that is typically monitored by market participants, is expected at 1330 GMT later in the day.
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Spot silver fell 0.5% to $ 22.70 per ounce, platinum fell 0.3% to $ 964.96, and palladium fell 0.5% to $ 1,973.75. All ready for their worst performance in years.
(Report by Bharat Govind Gautam and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Edited by Vinay Dwivedi)
