Investing.com – Gold prices slipped on Friday morning in Asia as minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve showed that another increase in interest rates is in the offing, lending support to the dollar.
Gold Futures for February delivery inched down 0.02% to $1,230.2 per troy ounce by 11:15PM ET (03:15 GMT), after a slight bounce back from the previous session.
Silver Futures for March delivery rose 0.02% to $14.405, while platinum futures for January delivery fell 0.13% to $820.4.
The Fed released on Thursday the minutes of its Nov. 7-8 meeting, which showed that the officials might hike interest rates but did not offer a timeline. Rises in interest rates reduce demand for safe haven assets like gold, which does not generate regular payments the way other investments, like bonds, do.
Although the minutes are supposed to support the dollar, the U.S. dollar index, tracking the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, still dropped 0.06% to 96.645.
The Fed’s chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the interest rates are “just below” the estimates of a neutral level, pulling down the U.S. dollar.
“The rate hike is still ahead of us and that is a temporary headwind for gold. The stock market firming is supporting the dollar, which is not good for gold,” George Gero, managing director at RBC Wealth Management, told Reuters.
Investors are also focused on the G20 summit on Friday and Saturday, in which the U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet amidst an escalating trade war.