By Anmol Choubey
(Reuters) – Gold prices dipped on Thursday due to rising U.S. Treasury yields and profit-taking, while market attention turned to Friday’s payrolls data for insights into the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy move.
Spot gold fell 0.1% to $2,915.83 an ounce as of 01:49 p.m. ET (1849 GMT), after rising in the last three sessions. U.S. gold futures settled largely unchanged at $2,926.6.
“We are just seeing some mild profit-taking pressure from recent gains, the underlying fundamentals are still bullish… Another thing that’s putting some mild pressure on the gold market is a rise in bond yields,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior market analyst at Kitco Metals.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hit a more than one-week high, reducing the appeal of non-yielding gold. [US/]
Safe-haven gold has gained more than 10% year-to-date amid geopolitical uncertainties and hit a record high of $2,956.15 on February 24.
The U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada on Tuesday and further duties on Chinese goods. On Wednesday, however, the White House confirmed it will exempt automakers from Canadian and Mexican tariffs for a month, subject to their compliance with existing free trade rules.
All eyes are on the U.S. non-farm payrolls report due on Friday, which economists surveyed by Reuters expect to show a February gain of 160,000 jobs.
The Fed has held interest rates steady so far this year after executing three rate cuts last year, but market predictions indicate easing will resume in June.
“There is the possibility of more rate cuts from the Fed than currently priced in amid data weakness, which is adding another layer of uncertainty to the markets,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com.
“Amid all these conflicting signals, gold has managed to remain near recent highs and still on course to potentially reach $3,000 at some point in the near future.”
Spot silver rose 0.2% to $32.70 an ounce, palladium was up 0.4% at $946.58 and platinum steady at $965.76.
(Reporting by Anmol Choubey and Sarah Qureshi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Nia Williams and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
