Gold prices eased on Monday but hovered near their record high of last week, setting bullion on track for its fourth consecutive quarterly gain following the Federal Reserve‘s large interest rate cut and rising tensions across the Middle East.
In the UAE, gold rates edged down AED0.5 with 24-carat gold declining to AED321.50 and 22-carat gold falling to AED297.75. Meanwhile, 21-carat gold reached AED288.25 and 18-carat gold was at AED247.
Globally, spot gold fell 0.30 percent to $2,656.02 as of 5:12 GMT, after hitting another record high of $2,685.42 last week. Meanwhile, U.S. gold futures gained 0.32 percent to $2,676.55.
The dollar index gained 0.01 percent to 100.39, placing additional downward pressure on gold prices.
U.S. rate cut bets
Gold prices inched down from their record high but were on track for their best quarter in over eight years following a large U.S. rate cut decision in September and expectations of another outsized cut in November.
Data on Friday revealed that U.S. consumer spending increased moderately in August, suggesting the economy retained some of its momentum in the third quarter, while inflation pressures continued to subside, raising bets for a second large reduction.
Traders now see a 53 percent chance of another 50-basis-point cut by the Fed in its next meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Market attention now turns toward comments from both Fed chair Jerome Powell and Fed governor Michelle Bowman later in the day and the release of the U.S. ADP employment report and the nonfarm payrolls data later during the week.
This week’s data set could provide further clarity about the health of the U.S. labor market, providing gold prices the opportunity to set a new high if they fall in line with rate cut expectations.
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Other precious metals
Amid the decline in gold prices from their all-time high, the precious metals market saw mixed movement. Spot silver declined 0.25 percent to $31.54 after hitting a near 12-year high of $32.71 last week. Meanwhile, platinum fell 0.22 percent to $998.10 and palladium inched down 0.36 percent to $1,007.50. However, copper gained 1.52 percent to $4.61.
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