BULLION LATEST 24/11: Gold little changed; Fed inflation concerns pressure dollar

The spot gold price was quoted at $1291.70-1292.15 per oz as of 11.59am Shanghai time, up by $0.70 from the previous session’s close. Trade has ranged from $1289.55-1293.30 so far today.

• “Gold was little changed, with traders continuing to weigh up the impact of the slightly more dovish minutes from the Fed meeting,” ANZ Research said on Friday.
• The minutes from the Fed’s November meeting said that some officials were reluctant to vote for additional rate increases until they are convinced that inflation is indeed gaining strength.
• These officials “indicated that their decision about whether to increase the target range in the near term would depend importantly on whether the upcoming economic data boosted their confidence that inflation was headed toward the committee’s objective.”
• Market participants widely viewed the comments about low inflation as reducing the number of anticipated US interest rate increases next year, sending the dollar lower.
• The dollar continues to languish in low ground, pressured by the dovish comments.
• The dollar index was up by 0.06% at 93.17 as of 12:10am Shanghai time – the index had reached a low of 93.07 on Thursday, which was the lowest since October 19.
• “The dollar index remains mired near the lows with the minutes showing the split camps within the United States Federal Reserve on price growth/rate hikes,” Commerzbank noted on Friday.
• “A narrow range trading session across the precious metals with limited trading activities due to the US Thanksgiving holidays,” the bank added.

Silver, PGMs

• In the other precious metals, the spot silver price was up by $0.070 to $17.125-17.150 per oz. Platinum was up $5 to $936-941 per oz, and palladium increased $2 to $1,009-$1,014 per oz.
• On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-traded June gold contract was up by 0.1% at 280.40 yuan ($42.56) per gram, and the most-traded December silver contract was up by 0.3% at 3,996 yuan per kg.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was up by 0.06% at 93.17 as of 12.10pm Shanghai time.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price was down by 0.07% to $63.35 per barrel, while the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price increased by 0.08% to $58.45.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.31% to 3,341.48.
• The economic agenda is light today with Japan’s flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) surprising to the upside with a reading of 53.8 in November, from 52.8 in October.
• Later, German Ifo business climate and flash and services PMI data from the United States are due.