Gold prices eased on Wednesday, as traders pared bets of rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year following remarks by some policymakers, while the market awaited key U.S. inflation data due later this week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was down 0.1% at $2,357.70 per ounce, as of 0059 GMT, U.S. gold futures were up 0.1% at $2,358.30.
* Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said in an interview with CNBC broadcast that the U.S. central bank should wait for significant progress on inflation before cutting interest rates.
* Investors are now waiting for the April reading on the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the U.S. central bank’s preferred inflation gauge, which is due on Friday.
* Traders’ bets signalled growing skepticism that the Fed will cut rates more than once in 2024, currently pricing in about a 60% chance of a rate cut by November, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
* Bullion is known as an inflation hedge, but higher rates increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.
* Israel’s military denied striking a tent camp west of Rafah after Gaza health authorities said Israeli tank shelling had killed at least 21 people there, in an area Israel has designated a civilian evacuation zone.
* Gold is used as a hedge against inflation, and economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
* Shareholders of South African precious metals producer Sibanye Stillwater voted in favour of a resolution to convert $500 million worth of bonds issued last year into shares.
* BHP was struggling to find common ground with Anglo American in talks over its takeover offer, with no new concessions as a deadline nears for the world’s biggest miner to submit a binding offer, five sources said.
* Spot silver fell 0.5% to $31.95 per ounce, platinum was down 0.9% at $1,054.10 and palladium gained 0.1% to $973.47.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 1200 Germany CPI Prelim YY May 1200 Germany HICP Prelim YY May 1800 US Federal Reserve issues the Beige Book.
