Gold futures rose 0.20% to $1,741.05, after dropping to $1,726.19, their lowest level since Aug. 11, on Tuesday
Gold was up on Wednesday morning in Asia, staying near a seven-week low. A dollar near ten-month highs and rising U.S. Treasury yields also applied pressure on the safe-haven asset, with expectations of an earlier-than-expected interest rate hike.
Gold futures rose 0.20% to $1,741.05 by 3:48 AM GMT, after dropping to $1,726.19, their lowest level since Aug. 11, on Tuesday. The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, inched down on Wednesday but remained near a more than 10-month high reached the day before.
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields remained close to an over three-month peak as investors also monitored a debt-ceiling impasse after Republicans in the Senate blocked a Democrat move to raise the debt limit.
Both U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that a default due to a failure to raise the debt ceiling would have catastrophic consequences in their testimonies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday. Powell and Yellen will also testify before a House Banking Committee hearing on Thursday.
Central bank chiefs, including Powell, the Bank of England’s (BoE) Andrew Bailey, the Bank of Japan’s Haruhiko Kuroda, and the European Central Bank (ECB)’s Christine Lagarde will also participate in an ECB Forum panel later in the day.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Conference Board (CB) Consumer Confidence index dropped for a third month in a row and was at 109.3 in September.
In Asia Pacific, data from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department showed on Tuesday that China’s net gold imports via Hong Kong in August dropped modestly from August.
In other precious metals, silver rose 0.1%, platinum eased 0.1% to $966.03 and palladium added 1%.
