Gold prices hover near two-week low as rate cut bets ease

GOLD edged up on Monday (May 27) but was hovering near a two-week low hit in the previous session as investors pared expectations of a US interest rate cut after the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting indicated that a delay in monetary policy easing is likely.

Spot gold rose 0.2 per cent to US$2,338.85 per ounce, as at 0211 GMT. Prices hit its lowest since May 9 at US$2,325.19 on Friday (May 24).

US gold futures were up 0.3 per cent at US$2,340.20.

Bullion hit a record high of US$2,449.89 earlier last week, but has shed more than US$100 since then.

Fed officials indicated that it would take longer than previously anticipated to gain greater confidence in inflation moving to 2 per cent, according to the minutes of the US central bank’s Apr 30 to May 1 meeting.

Traders’ bets signalled growing doubts that the Fed will cut rates more than once in 2024, currently pricing in about a 62 per cent chance of a rate cut by November, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Bullion is known as an inflation hedge, but higher rates increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.

At least five people were killed and several others were missing after an informal gold mine collapsed in northern Kenya, officials and local media said.

BHP’s resolve to add more copper to its portfolio will be tested by Anglo American investors’ demands for a simpler offer for the whole company or a cash sweetener to clinch a deal that could become the biggest in mining history.

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Profits at China’s industrial firms rose 4.3 per cent in the first four months from the same period last year, official data showed.

Spot silver rose 0.8 per cent to US$30.59 per ounce, platinum was up 1.2 per cent at US$1,037.90 and palladium gained 1.6 per cent at US$979.25. REUTERS