GOLD SUBDUED, PLATINUM UP

GOLD PRICES were on the back foot yesterday as an uptick in risk appetite took some shine off the safe-haven metal, although a weaker dollar and a fall in US bond yields limited losses for the bullion.

Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1 809.73 (about R26 354) an ounce by 4.02pm.

US gold futures fell 0.3 percent to $1 811.30 an ounce.

“There’s a slight lesser need for safe havens as the equity markets are surging higher once again this morning,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures, adding US jobs data later this week will key event risk.

“However, the underlying premises post Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting is an environment that is conducive to the yellow metal moving forward.”

The S&P 500 index neared a record high as a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and strong second-quarter corporate earnings lifted sentiment.

Focus now shifts to July’s US nonfarm payroll numbers, due on Friday, that is expected to shed more light on the health of the labour market.

Last week, Fed chairperson Jerome Powell said interest rate hikes were “ways away” and the job market still had “some ground to cover”, lifting gold prices to a two-week high of just over $1 821 an ounce last Thursday.

“We may be seeing a little bit of corrective action in gold. It ran into resistance just above $1 830 again which may have triggered a little profit taking,” Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said.

“The dollar and yields are a little lower which should be supporting prices. If both remain low, I suspect gold may see some support once more,” he added.

Silver fell 0.2 percent to $25.42 an ounce, palladium rose 0.7 percent to $2 678.50 an ounce and platinum gained 1 percent to $1 059.03 an ounce. I Reuters