Gold futures for December delivery slid 0.8 percent to settle at $1,346.20 an ounce at 1:39 p.m. on the Comex in NY, paring this week’s gain to 0.2 percent. Those comments followed New York Fed President William Dudley who lauded recent strong gains in US employment after saying earlier in the week that the Fed could raise rates as soon as next month.
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According to a report on CBC News, Federal Reserve officials believed last month that immediate risks to the U.S. economy had receded, and that “an interest rate increase could soon be warranted”.
U.S. Treasury debt prices fell as traders locked in recent gains ahead of next week’s government debt supply and the Jackson Hole meeting.
– A gauge of 14 senior global gold producers tracked by Bloomberg Intelligence dropped 1.3 percent, poised for a 6 percent decline this week, the worst since May 27.
Japan’s Nikkei.N225 erased earlier gains to trade 0.1 percent lower, set for a weekly loss of 2.6 percent.
New York Fed President William Dudley reinforced his confidence on a possible interest-rate hike for a second time in the week.
Reports showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, while manufacturing activity in the US Mid-Atlantic region saw a mild improvement this month.
Members of the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee were generally upbeat about the United States economy and labour market, but several said any slowdown in future hiring would augur against a near-term hike.
“The message from the Fed has been conflicting and often not very clear”, said Chris Chapman, a trader at Manulife Asset Management (Europe) Ltd.
Towards 2100 GMT, the euro was at $1.1354, up from $1.1287, levels not seen since the fears created by Britain’s June vote to exit the European Union.
The probability of a USA rate increase by year-end is 47 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on fed fund futures.
The net-long position in gold futures and options fell 4.3 per cent to 255,773 contracts in the week ended Aug 9, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released three days later. Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, fell for a second day.
The U.S. currency gained 0.4 percent to 100.23 yen JPY=.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six peers, rose 0.2 percent to 94.367.
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Silver was down 0.5% at $19.63/oz. Palladium was down 1 per cent at $705.47, after hitting an one-week high of $717.70 Thursday.
