Gold prices rose on Monday in European trade on track for the first profit in three days as the US dollar retreated against major rivals.
Dollar’s decline comes before the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting this year, widely expected to cut interest rates for the third time in 2024.
Prices
Gold prices rose 0.5% today to $2662 an ounce, with a session-low at $2643.
On Friday, gold lost 1.25%, the second loss in a row on profit-taking away from five-week highs at $2726.
The precious metal rose 0.6% last week, the first weekly profit in three weeks on haven demand and hopes for an improved actual demand in China.
The Dollar
The dollar index fell 0.2% on Monday away from a two-week high at 107.19 against a basket of major rivals.
A weaker dollar makes the greenback-denominated gold futures more attractive to holders of other currencies.
Fed’s Meeting
The Federal Reserve will hold its periodic policy meeting this week, and is fully expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points.
According to the Fedwatch tool, the odds of a 0.25% interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week stood at 97%.
Now investors await a batch of important US services and manufacturing data later today to gather more clues on the flexibility of the US economy.
SPDR
Gold holdings at the SPDR Gold Trust fell 4.6 tons on Friday, to a total of 863.90 tons, the lowest since September 9.
