Gold price holds below $1,200/oz, risk-on sentiment persists

Gold remained below the psychologically significant $1,200 level on the morning of Thursday November 24 while risk-on sentiment persists.

The spot gold price was recently quoted at $1,186.65/1,186.95 per oz, down $2.75 on Wednesday’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,181.25 per oz – the lowest since February 8 this year – to a high of $1,189.90 so far.

The release last night of the minutes of the previous FOMC meeting also cast a bearish pall over gold, HSBC analyst James Steel noted. As widely anticipated, the minutes showed that, although divided and cautious, most Fed members agreed that higher rates are justified “soon”.

Market participants now see a 93.5% chance of the Fed lifting rates in December, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

The strong dollar is also weighing – the dollar index climbed to a fresh 13-and-a-half-year high of 102.05 earlier but was recently at 101.64, down 0.09% on the previous close.

“The Thanksgiving Day holiday may act as a circuit breaker in the sell-off and allow gold a chance to stabilise. The big selling recently has come from the US. Asia and Europe have been more neutral. Without a big North American presence on Thursday and likely also Friday, the market may calm,” Steel said.

In the other precious metals, the spot silver price was unchanged at $16.355/16.390 per oz. Platinum fell $8 to $917/922 per oz but palladium at $734/740 per oz was $5 higher.

(Editing by Mark Shaw)

 

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