BULLION LATEST 27/09: Gold stays below $1,300/oz as dollar rises after hawkish Yellen comments

The spot gold price was quoted at $1,295.00-1,295.30 per oz as of 04:33 BST, up just $0.95 on the previous session’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,290.90-1,296.25 so far today.

• Yellen’s speech was interpreted by markets as hawkish as she noted that it would be “imprudent” to keep monetary policy on hold until inflation reaches 2%, thus lending weight to the possibility of a December US rate increase.
• “Perhaps the more important point to emphasise is that central bankers – of which Janet Yellen remains the most important in the world – are happy to be gradually normalising policy as long as they have confidence inflation will be moving up towards target in future,” the National Australia Bank said on Wednesday.

Silver, PGMs

• In the other precious metals, the spot silver price rose $0.048 to $16.835-16.88 per oz. Platinum increased $5 to $926-931 per oz and palladium gained $1 to $913-918 per oz.
• On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for December delivery was recently at 279.65 yuan ($42.18) per gram, and the December silver was at 3,885 yuan per kg.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was up 0.04% to 93.07 as of 04:22 BST. It had been as high as 93.29 on Tuesday, the highest since August 31.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price gained 0.14% to $58.61 per barrel as of 04:35 BST.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite index was recently 0.05% higher at 3,345.30.
• In data on Tuesday, the US CB consumer confidence came in at 119.8 for September, which was close to the expected print but below August’s reading of 120.4. US new home sales eased to 560,000 in August from 580,000 in July.
• The economic agenda is light today with mainly US durable goods orders, pending home sales and crude oil inventories due later today.
• The tax reform speech by US president Donald Trump in Indianapolis later on Wednesday – of which he had promised “the largest tax cut in the history of our country” – will be closely watched by investors given its possible repercussions for the dollar.