BULLION LATEST 28/09: Gold under pressure as dollar continues to rise

The spot gold price was quoted at $1,282.60-1,282.90 per oz as of 04:33 BST, down $0.95 on the previous session’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,282.40-1,284.93 so far today. The price had dipped as low as $1,281.6 on Wednesday, the lowest since August 25.

• The dollar has continued to gain strength after Trump rolled out a tax reform plan which included cutting corporate tax to 20% from 35% and also tax cuts for individuals.
• “Higher US yields and continued strength in the US dollar post-President Trump’s tax announcements has eroded golds asset appeal in the absence of geopolitical sabre rattling in the last couple of days,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, said.
• Hawkish comments from US Federal Open Market Committee chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday is also supporting the dollar. Yellen had noted that it would be “imprudent” to keep monetary policy on hold until inflation reaches 2%, thus lending weight to the possibility of a US rate increase in December.

Silver, PGMs

• In the other precious metals, the spot silver price rose $0.005 to $16.76-16.78 per oz. Platinum increased $1 to $917-922 per oz while palladium was down $1 at $925-930 per oz.
• On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for December delivery was recently at 277.70 yuan ($41.82) per gram, and the December silver was at 3,865 yuan per kg.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was up 0.07% to 93.53 as of 04:19 BST. The index had reached as high as 93.61 on Wednesday, the highest since August 23.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price rose 0.04% to $57.66 per barrel at 04:21 BST.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite index was recently 0.14% lower at 3,340.44.
• In US data on Wednesday, pending home sales fell 2.6% in August, more than the expected decline of 0.5%, while weekly crude oil inventory declined 1.8 million barrels, against an expected 2.9-million-barrel increase. Durable goods orders in August came in at 1.7%, above the forecast of 1.0%, while core durable goods in August were in line with estimates at 0.2%.
• Economic data due later today includes final second GDP, unemployment claims, final GDP price index, goods trade balance and preliminary wholesale inventories from the USA.