Gold eases on steady dollar, US debt talks lend support

May 22 (Reuters) – Gold prices pulled back on Monday as the dollar steadied, but drawn-out discussions regarding the US debt ceiling and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s less-hawkish comments prevented further losses in safe-haven bullion.

Spot gold was down 0.1% at USD 1,975.09 per ounce as of 0717 GMT, while US gold futures fell 0.1% to USD 1,979.60.

The US dollar index was up 0.2%, making gold less affordable for overseas buyers.

US President Joe Biden and House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet to discuss the debt ceiling on Monday, which will be closely watched to see if a resolution is reached after negotiations broke off on Friday.

“Gold is taking more of a cue from debt ceiling developments (or lack of) over the Fed meeting because a US default could occur before the Fed next meet, and it would surely have an impact on the Fed’s decision,” said Matt Simpson, a senior market analyst at City Index.

Gold prices gained 1% on Friday after Fed Chair Powell said it is still unclear if US interest rates will need to rise further, amid uncertainty about the impact of past hikes and recent bank credit tightening with the fact that inflation is proving hard to control.

Non-interest-bearing bullion becomes less attractive in a high interest rate environment.

Markets are now pricing in a 87.3% chance of the Fed standing pat on rates next month, the CME FedWatch tool showed.

Gold might break a resistance at USD 1,985 and climb into a USD 1,992-USD 2,003 range before turning around and falling, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose on a rally in regional chip shares on Monday.

Spot silver slipped 0.4% to USD 23.74 per ounce, platinum rose 0.1% to USD 1,064.00 and palladium fell 0.5% to USD 1,504.88.

(Reporting by Kavya Guduru in Bengaluru; editing by Varun H K and Jason Neely)