Investing.com – Gold prices were roughly unchanged Friday despite escalating tensions between the United States and its allies as the G7 meeting kicked off.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $0.20 or 0.02%, to $1,302.80 a troy ounce.
Tensions grew between the United States and its allies as U.S. President Donald Trump went into the G7 meeting expecting a frosty reception after lashing out at Canada and the European Union.
That failed, however, to spark demand for gold, which traded continued to trade in a narrow range as traders remained wary of initiating large bets on the yellow metal ahead of widely expected Federal Reserve next week.
Investor expectations for a faster pace of rate hikes has returned on the back of a string of bullish U.S. economy data, Stifel said.
"Improvement in the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation has reinvigorated the argument for a rise in rates potentially at an accelerated pace should inflation now exceed the Fed’s target," Stifel said in a note to clients.
According to investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, 33.8% of traders expect the Federal Reserve to hike rates for a fourth time at its December meeting, up from under 30% last week.
In a rising interest rate environment, investor appetite for gold weakens as the opportunity cost of holding the precious metal increases relative to other interest-bearing assets such as bonds.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.27% to $16.77 a troy ounce, while platinum futures rose 0.70% to $906.60 an ounce.
Copper rose 0.55% to $3.30.