- Gold up 2.4% so far this week
- Silver eyes first weekly gain in three
- Platinum, palladium set for weekly losses
By Swati Verma
Oct 13 (Reuters) – Gold firmed on Friday and was heading for its best week in seven months, amid tensions in the Middle East, and supported by expectations that U.S. interest rates may have peaked as markets assess latest inflation figures.
Spot gold rose 0.4% to $1,876.08 per ounce by 0520 GMT. U.S. gold futures added 0.3% to $1,888.80.
U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar reversed course in Asia hours on Friday, having strengthened in the last session and weighed on gold after data showed U.S. consumer prices increased in September.
“We had the headline number only a little bit higher. The core number was lower as expected… and it doesn’t look like this really changes the calculus for the Fed at all,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro, Tastylive.
“We have yet to see what higher for longer means at this point. The expectation is that the rate hike cycle is now over and the signalling from the Fed that we’re getting seems to confirm that thinking.”
Before the inflation data, gold had climbed to its highest in two weeks on Thursday, boosted by dovish policy stance by top policymakers who noted that the recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields might make further rate hikes less necessary.
That, along with safe-haven demand amid military clashes between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, set the non-yielding asset on track for a more than 2% rise this week, the most since mid-March.
Investors also assessed the latest inflation data out of China, the biggest gold consumer, which showed consumer prices faltered and factory-gate prices shrank slightly faster than expected in September, with both indicators showing persistent deflationary pressures.
Spot silver climbed 0.7% to $22 per ounce as looked set for its first weekly gain in three.
Platinum was down 0.3% to $865.99 and palladium fell 0.3% to $1,140.83, both on path for weekly declines.
