Investing.com – Gold prices were on track to post a weekly loss Friday amid dollar strength despite the Federal Reserve expressing its desire to continue its gradual approach to rate hikes.
Gold futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $2.10, or 0.16%, to $1,330.70 a troy ounce.
The Federal Reserve in its monetary policy report said the pace of wage gains was moderate, weighed by low productivity. The monetary policy report was released ahead of Fed chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress on Feb. 27 to allow members of Congress and the public time to review the report.
“The economic expansion continues to be supported by steady job gains, rising household wealth, favorable consumer sentiment, strong economic growth abroad, and accommodative financial conditions,” the report said.
Losses in the yellow metal were limited somewhat by an ongoing fall in US bond yields – which move in the opposite direction to Treasury prices – from four-year highs, which some said could be the start of a long overdue correction to the recent fall in Treasury prices.
Gold is sensitive to moves lower in bond yields which limits the opportunity cost of holding non-interest yielding assets such as bullion.
The CFTC Commitment of Traders (COT) report due later is expected to provide traders with an insight into whether sentiment on the yellow metal has improved after the report last week showed bullish bets on gold fell for the fourth-straight week.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.58% to $16.49 a troy ounce, while platinum futures fell 0.14% to $998 an ounce.
Copper rose 1.03% to $3.21, while natural gas fell 1.40% to $2.60.