(Bloomberg) -- Gold held gains as investors await a key U.S. inflation report due later this week for clues on when the Federal Reserve may begin to talk about tapering its asset purchases.
Bullion rose 1.5% over the past two days as traders assessed a smaller-than-expected gain in U.S. payrolls as well as comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying that higher interest rates would be a “plus” for America and the Fed, which weighed on the dollar.
Gold is holding close to $1,900 an ounce amid rising price pressures and speculation that central banks may eventually pare back stimulus as the global economy recovers from the pandemic. Thursday will bring the European Central Bank’s decision, as well as the U.S. CPI report which will be one of the last major economic indicators before the Fed’s next policy meeting June 15-16.
“If financial markets are already in the summer doldrum mode, that could mean gold prices could steadily rally over the next couple of months,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “Even if the upcoming inflation report later this week doesn’t show a significant deceleration in pricing pressures, it probably won’t change anyone’s opinion on inflation at the Fed. Wall Street should see investor demand improve for safe-havens such as gold, as global tax and inflation concerns intensify.”
Spot gold was little changed at $1,899.42 an ounce at 7:49 a.m. in Singapore. Prices climbed to $1,916.64 last week, the highest intraday level since Jan. 8. Silver, platinum and palladium were steady. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat after dropping 0.2% on Monday.
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