Gold hits one-week high after Fed fails to signal taper timeline

Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,815.56 per ounce by 6:59 am

Gold prices rose to its highest level in over a week on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve failed to give a timeline for its tapering plans and said it was "ways away" from considering raising interest rates.

Spot gold rose 0.5 per cent to $1,815.56 per ounce by 6:59 am, having earlier hit a peak since July 20 at $1,817.35.

US gold futures climbed 0.9 per cent to $1,815.30 per ounce.

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While the US central bank acknowledged discussing the eventual withdrawal of pandemic-era monetary policy support in its statement, Chairman Jerome Powell said the US job market still had "some ground to cover" before it would be time to pull back.

Large stimulus measures tend to support gold, which is often considered a hedge against inflation and currency debasement.

Powell also downplayed the risk of the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus on the economic recovery.

Fed's policy statement weighed on the dollar index, which hit a two-week low on Wednesday, making gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that 66.6 per cent of US counties had transmission rates of Covid-19 high enough to warrant indoor masking and should immediately resume the policy.

Silver rose 0.9 per cent to $25.15 per ounce.

Palladium rose 0.6 per cent to $2,641.69 per ounce, while platinum gained 0.8 per cent at $1,073.42.