Gold hits 1-month low as dollar strengthens after Powell speech

Gold prices hit a more than one-month low on Monday, pressured by a robust dollar after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signalled continuing with an aggressive monetary policy to tame inflation.

Spot gold fell 0.6% to $1,726.61 per ounce by 0331 GMT. Prices earlier touched $1,722.56, their lowest since July 27. US gold futures shed 0.7% to $1,737.90 per ounce. The dollar index scaled a 20-year high, making greenback-priced bullion expensive for those holding other currencies.

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Gold's momentum has turned lower and while at some point there will be a safe-haven flow, investors are currently focusing on interest rates remaining high, said Matt Simpson, a senior market analyst at City Index. In a speech at a top central bankers' conference on Friday, Powell said the Fed will raise rates as high as needed to restrict growth, and would keep them there "for some time" to bring down inflation.

He also acknowledged this could bring some pain to households and businesses. Echoing Fed's stance, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel said central banks must act forcefully to combat inflation, even if that drags their economies into a recession. While gold is often considered a safe haven during financial uncertainties, it is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion while boosting the dollar.

"Gold is probably heading towards $1,700 and has room to go to $1,680. You can get some buyers stepping in around $1,680 level to support the market and back up to $1,750," Simpson added. Speculators cut their net long COMEX gold position by 15,910 contracts to 30,326 in the week to Aug. 23, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. Spot silver dropped 1.3% to $18.63 per ounce, platinum slipped 1.1% to $854.02 and palladium was flat at $2,110.68.