By Anjana Anil
(Reuters) – Gold eased on Thursday as the dollar ticked up and prices consolidated after hitting an over three-month-high in the prior session, while focus remained on U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies.
Spot gold eased 0.1% to $2,752.48 per ounce by 11:40 a.m. ET (1640 GMT). Prices hit a more than three-month peak on Wednesday, $26.72 shy of their all-time high of $2,790.15 in October.
U.S. gold futures shed 0.4% to $2,760.5.
The dollar index erased some losses, making greenback-priced gold more expensive. [USD/]
“With a stronger dollar and Treasury yields, it’s hard for gold to continue to move higher,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
Bullion pared some earlier losses in the day after Trump said he is working to reverse inflation.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Trump said he would demand an immediate drop in interest rates and that other countries should follow suit.
Non-yielding bullion thrives in a low interest rate environment.
However, traders see a 96% chance of the U.S. Federal Reserve keeping rates unchanged at its Jan. 28-29 meeting, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Uncertainty about Trump’s trade plans prevailed as he said tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union could be announced on Feb. 1.
Lack of clarity about future policies has led to market participants flocking to safe-haven assets such as gold to hedge against volatility.
“(Gold) bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the contract high of $2,826.30,” Jim Wyckoff, senior market analyst at Kitco Metals, said.
Spot silver dropped 1.5% to $30.34 per ounce, while platinum shed 0.1% to $944.52.
Trump had also threatened Russia “and other participating countries” with taxes, tariffs and sanctions if a deal to end the war in Ukraine is not struck soon.
Russia is the world’s largest palladium producer and a major supplier of the metal to the United States.
Palladium added 1.4% to $991.00.
(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
