Gold locked in narrow range ahead of US fed meeting

Gold prices moved in a relatively narrow range today, Monday, as investors around the world turned to a series of central bank meetings, while the focus was in particular on the Federal Reserve meeting (the US central bank).

According to Reuters, gold rose in spot transactions by 0.2 percent, to $ 1931.07 an ounce, by 0717 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $1,930.50.

Gold, as a non-returnable asset, benefits from lower interest rates because it reduces the opportunity cost of holding the yellow metal.

With the end of the Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for January 31 and February 1, dealers widely expect the bank to reduce the pace of raising interest rates to 25 basis points, compared to raising them by 50 basis points in December.

The European Central Bank and Bank of England hold monetary policy meetings this week as well

In terms of other precious metals, silver rose in spot transactions by 0.8 percent to $ 23.74 an ounce, and platinum rose 0.1 percent to $ 1013.40. Palladium jumped 1.3 percent to $1,639.90.