Investing.com – Gold prices remained flat despite the dollar and bond yields coming under pressure as traders remained cautious on outlook for the yellow metal amid expectation the Fed will raise rates next month.
Gold futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by $0.40, or 0.03%, to $1,331.60 a troy ounce.
Federal Reserve jawboning, weighed on US bond yields but failed to attract a bid in gold as the Fed’s meeting minutes released Wednesday did nothing to suggest that the March rate hike was in jeopardy.
"The idea that we need to go 100 basis points in 2018, that seems like a lot to me," St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told CNBC. "Everything would have to go just right. The economy would have to surprise on the upside a bunch of times during the year. I'm not sure that's a good way to think about 2018."
Gold is sensitive to moves lower in both bond yields and the U.S. dollar – A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of foreign currency raising demand while a fall in U.S. bond yields, limits the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
Others said that the yellow metal’s failure to break under $1,320 kept hope alive for gold bugs, triggering short covering for bears, which supported the yellow metal’s rebound.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.04% to $16.61 a troy ounce, while platinum futures rose 0.33% to $999.90 an ounce.
Copper rose 0.65% to $3.24, while natural gas fell 0.71% to $2.64. The fall in natural comes against data showing that storage fell more than expected.