Fed rate hikes push gold into bullish territory

THE Fed has done it again, lifting gold price on the day of the rate hike.

On March 21, the Fed decided to raise the Fed Funds Rate (FFR) to 1.75 per cent from 1.50 per cent. Instead of seeing a rally in the US dollar and a sell-off in gold, the opposite happened where gold bottomed out again on the rate hike day.

Part of the reason for that was due to the pricing-in mechanism of the market. Prior to the Fed rate hike, gold has been stuck in a slumber since Feb 16 as it retreated off the US$1,360 high and stayed range bound around the US$1,300 psychological round number.