Gold Up Over Softer Dollar, Investors Await Latest Fed Meeting Minutes

© Reuters.

By Gina Lee

AiVIF.com – Gold was up on Wednesday morning in Asia after hitting a three-week high during the previous session. A weakening dollar also gave the yellow metal a boost as investors await the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.

Gold futures were up 0.25% to $1,798.60 by 12:41 AM ET (4:41 AM GMT) after climbing to their highest level since Jun. 17 during the previous session.

The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, inched down on Wednesday but remained near the three-month high hit during the previous week. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields also fell to their lowest level in more than four months.

The minutes from the Fed’s June 2021 meeting, due to be released later in the day, are expected to provide some clues to the central bank’s monetary policy moving forward. They could also shed some light on the Fed’s surprise hawkish turn in the policy decision handed down after that meeting.

On the data front, the U.S. Institute of Supply Management (ISM) non-manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) released on Tuesday came in at 60.1 for June, as labor and raw material shortages likely contributed to the lower-than-expected figure.

Across the Atlantic, data also released on Tuesday said the German Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) economic sentiment index fell sharply to 63.3, below the 75.2 in forecasts prepared by AiVIF.com and June’s 79.8 figure.

Separately, German factory orders also missed forecasts, contracting 3.7% month-on-month in May against the 1% growth in forecasts prepared by AiVIF.com and April’s 1.2% growth.

In other precious metals, silver eased 0.2%, while palladium fell 0.5% and platinum slipped 0.6%.