Gold futures on Wednesday finished higher for a fifth straight session, before the release of minutes from the latest meeting of the U.S.’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee showed officials pondering the start of a reduction in asset purchases.
The gains in bullion were supported by a steady U.S. dollar and a decline of 10-year Treasury note yields to levels not seen since February, helping to bolster appetite for precious metals.
Gold’s recent bullish trend, which Tuesday helped to propel the precious metal toward a golden cross, which occurs when the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-DMA, has been supported by buying in safe-haven assets and muted moves in U.S. dollars.
August gold
GC00,
+0.57%
GCQ21,
+0.57%
traded $8 higher, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,802.10 an ounce, following a 0.6% rise on Tuesday that pushed the metal to around a three-week high amid its longest string of gains since a six-session streak ended May 20. Gold hasn’t finished at or above the psychologically significant level at $1,800 since June 16.
Trading for bullion comes as yields for the 10-year
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.319%
and 30-year Treasury
TMUBMUSD30Y,
1.941%
dipped to their lowest levels since February. Lower yields support bullion because it lowers the opportunity cost of owning non-yielding precious metals.
Gold settled before minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting were released at 2 p.m. Eastern. Those minutes, from the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee’s June 15-16 gathering, indicated that officials wanted to eventually taper asset purchases, running at $120 billion a month, as a “matter of prudent planning.”
Several officials advocated for reducing $40 billion in monthly purchases in mortgage-backed securities and a “various” members of the Fed saw the economy meeting the central bank’s definition of “substantial progress” earlier than anticipated.
Elsewhere on Comex, silver contracts for September delivery
SI00,
+0.25%
SIU21,
+0.25%
shed 4.5 cents, or 0.2%, to end at $26.129 an ounce, more than erasing a similar drop on Tuesday for gold’s sister metal.
Rounding out metals trade, October platinum
PLV21,
+0.21%
shed $2.10, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,081.90 an ounce, after a 0.3% decline on Tuesday. September palladium
PAU21,
+2.61%
jumped $52.20, or 1.9%, to end at $2,848.30 an ounce after a 0.1% rise on Tuesday.
The September copper contract
HGU21,
+1.65%
advanced 7.15 cents, or 1.7%, to settle at $4.3225 a pound, following a 0.6% fall a day ago.
