By Daksh Grover and Brijesh Patel
(Reuters) – Gold prices edged higher to hover near all-time highs on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve stayed put on rates as widely expected and indicated reducing borrowing costs by half a percentage point by the end of this year.
Spot gold was up 0.2% at $3,039.09 per ounce as of 02:17 p.m. ET (1817 GMT), after hitting an all-time high of $3,045.24 earlier in the session.
U.S. gold futures settled mostly unchanged at $3,041.20.
“Gold is grinding higher on elevated uncertainty as the Fed sends mixed signals in the statement and economic projections,” said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader.
“Gold is in a bull market after surging strongly above 3,000 and will continue to move higher on asset market uncertainty and fear of higher inflation,” he added.
The Fed left its policy rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range, while officials marked up their outlook for inflation this year and marked down the outlook for economic growth, in the wake of the Trump administration’s rollout of tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump raised tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium to 25%, effective last week, and has said he intends for new reciprocal and sectoral tariffs to take effect on April 2.
Gold, traditionally viewed as a safe-haven investment during times of inflation or economic volatility, has climbed over 15% so far this year.
Investors now looked forward to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments at 2:30 p.m. ET for clarity on the rate-cut path.
Fed fund futures imply traders see a 62.1% chance of the Fed resuming rate cuts in the June meeting, up from 57% before the decision. Gold becomes more attractive when interest rates are low, as it is a non-yielding asset.
On the geopolitical front, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating a new agreement to refrain from attacks on energy targets just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Spot silver fell 1.2% to $33.63 an ounce, platinum slipped 0.4% to $993.35 and palladium fell 0.7% to $960.23.
(Reporting by Daksh Grover and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Joe Bavier, Chris Reese and Vijay Kishore)
