Gold slips as dollar regains, Fed officials back higher rates

Nov 28 (Reuters) – Gold prices slipped from a more than one-week high on Monday, as the dollar rose from session lows on hawkish comments from members of the US Federal Reserve reiterating their fight against inflation.

Spot gold fell 0.8% to USD 1,741.35 per ounce by 1:47 p.m. ET (1847 GMT), after hitting its highest since Nov. 18 earlier in the day.

US gold futures settled down 0.8% at USD 1,740.3.

“(The dollar) is just off the high of the day, we saw some US equities selling off and James Bullard seemed to be quite hawkish,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

The dollar turned positive after falling to a near two-week low earlier in the session. A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced metals more expensive for other currency holders.

Fed Presidents James Bullard and John Williams stated that there was a long way to go to fight inflation, with Bullard stating that rates should be held high “throughout next year and into 2024.”

Benchmark US 10-year bond yields also edged up from a near two-month low.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates as they increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Jerome Powell is due to speak at a Brookings Institution event on Wednesday, on the outlook for the US economy and the labour market.

Also on the radar, US non-farm payroll data for November is due on Friday, which might shift expectations around the Fed’s policy move in December. Traders currently anticipating a 50-basis-point rate hike.

Silver fell 3% to USD 20.94 per ounce.

Demand for silver could be lower amid protests and lockdowns in China as silver is mostly an industrial metal, highlighted Blue Line’s Streible.

Demonstrators and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday night as protests over China’s stringent COVID-19 measures flared and spread to several cities.

Platinum rose 0.6% to USD 986.68 while palladium fell 0.8% to USD 1,838.53.

(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by David Evans and Shailesh Kuber)