Gold prices near two-week low as dollar gains

The dollar rose 0.2% towards a three-week high hit earlier this week, making gold more expensive for buyers holding other currencies

Gold prices were near a two-week low on Thursday as the dollar gained after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting suggested the central bank would keep raising rates to tame inflation. Spot gold was flat at $1,761.69 per ounce, as of 0645 GMT, after falling to its lowest since August 3 at $1,759.17 on Wednesday. US gold futures edged 0.1 per cent higher to $1,775.50 per ounce.

The dollar rose 0.2 per cent towards a three-week high hit earlier this week, making gold more expensive for buyers holding other currencies. "Gold seems to be stuck in a range between $1,750-$1,800. The expectation of Fed rate hikes and inflation starting to cool off is weighing on gold prices," said Kunal Shah, head of research at Nirmal Bang Commodities. "On the other hand, there are lot of uncertainties on the geopolitical front. So combination of these factors is not able to lead to any breakout in gold."

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The minutes of Fed's July meeting showed that the central bank was contemplating paring back the pace of future rate hikes in line with a slowdown in inflation but saw "little evidence" yet that pressures were easing. Traders are now pricing in around a 57.5 per cent chance of a 50-basis-point rate hike by the Fed in September and a 42.5 per cent chance of a 75-bp increase. Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields hovered near one-month high.

Gold prices have fallen more than $300, or nearly 15 per cent, since scaling above the key $2,000 per ounce mark in early March due to the Fed's rapid rate hikes to alleviate inflation pressures. Indicative of sentiment, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.32 per cent to 989.01 tonnes on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, spot silver fell 1.1 per cent to $19.62 per ounce, platinum dipped 1 per cent to $914.77 and palladium slipped 0.3 per cent to $2,134.13.