Gold prices stabilize as focus turns to US Fed

Gold prices stabilized on Monday in modest trading due to holidays, with investors awaiting statements from a number of Federal Reserve officials (the US central bank) in a week full of data.

According to Reuters, gold settled in spot trading at $2,023.03 per ounce, fluctuating in the $5 range by 0523 GMT, and US gold futures settled at $2,037.10 per ounce.

“The situation is stable, and if the data declines in a way that leads to a decline in the dollar and increases bets on lowering US interest rates, gold will shine again,” said Kyle Rodda, a financial markets analyst at Capital.com. “The big impact this week comes from the CPI, which, if strong, will constitute another test of the $2,000 per ounce level.”

Trading is expected to be weak during Asian trading hours due to holidays in the markets of China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Market participants will focus on the US Consumer Price Index data that will be released on Tuesday, the retail sales data that will be released on Thursday, and the Producer Price Index data that will be released on Friday, while they also await the statements of 7 officials from the Federal Reserve this week.

Several Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, said last week they wanted to see more indications that inflation will continue to decline before cutting interest rates.

As for other precious metals, platinum settled in spot trading at $871.87 per ounce. Palladium rose 0.7 percent to $865.13, and silver rose 0.5 percent to $22.71.