Gold prices were steady on Friday as investors refrained from making big bets, with attention turning to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates at next week’s meeting.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold held its ground at $2,681.55 per ounce, as of 0041 GMT. Bullion is poised for a weekly gain and has added nearly 2% so far this week.
* U.S. gold futures were down 0.1% at $2,705.40.
* Gold prices slipped more than 1% on Thursday on profit-taking after they briefly hit a five-week high earlier in the session. * Traders’ attention is now on Fed’s decision on interest rates, and they see a 98.4% chance of a 25-basis-point cut, CME’s FedWatch Tool showed.
* U.S. producer prices rose more than expected in November amid a surge in the cost of food. Data on Wednesday showed that consumer prices increased by the most in seven months in November cementing bets of an interest rate cut at the Fed’s Dec. 17-18 meeting.
* The bullion thrives in a low-interest-rate environment.
* The European Central Bank cut interest rates for the fourth time this year and the Swiss National Bank cut its interest rate by 50 basis points, its biggest reduction in almost 10 years on Thursday.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.56% to 868.50 tons in the previous session from 873.38 tons on Wednesday.
* Spot silver was flat at $30.94 per ounce, platinum shed 0.3% to $927.50 and palladium fell 0.5% to $965.22.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0700 UK GDP Est 3M/3M Oct 0700 UK GDP Estimate MM Oct 0700 UK GDP Estimate YY Oct 0700 UK Services MM Oct 0700 UK Services YY Oct 0700 UK Manufacturing Output MM Oct 0745 France CPI (EU Norm) Final MM Nov 0745 France CPI (EU Norm) Final YY Nov 0745 France CPI YY NSA Nov 0745 France CPI MM NSA Nov 1330 US Import Prices YY Nov