Investing.com - Gold prices edged higher in European hours on Friday, holding in a familiar range with traders hesitant to make big bets ahead of a highly anticipated speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later in the session.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was last up 0.22% to $1,327.55 a troy ounce, while silver futures for September gained 0.53% to $18.587 a troy ounce. Copper futures for September on the Comex rose 0.60% to $2.089 a pound.
Earlier, In Japan, national core CPI fell 0.5% year-on-year for July more than the 0.4% decline seen, while national CPI eased 0.4% as expected in data that is now calculated under a 2015 base year with updated weightings. The core figure was the the fifth straight drop after a 0.4% decline in June. Retailers are cautious about raising prices in broad sectors after last year's price hikes amid uncertainty over global and domestic growth. Slow wage hikes are also clouding the prospects for the Bank of Japan's achieving its stable 2% inflation target.
Markets hoped that Fed chair Yellen may provide fresh clues on the timing of the next U.S. rate hike at a speech during an annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming later on Friday.
The annual Fed symposium has sometimes been used by Fed chairs to make important policy statements, though analysts were skeptical that she would provide specific details.
Odds for a rate hike as early as next month mounted following hawkish comments from several Fed officials in recent days, including Kansas City Fed chief Esther George, Fed vice chair Stanley Fischer and New York Fed president William Dudley.
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, investors are pricing in a 27% chance of a rate hike by September, up from 12% at the start of last week. December odds were at around 54%.
The precious metal is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar in which it is priced.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.07% at 94.61 early Friday, keeping distance from last week's eight-week low of 94.05.