(AGENPARL) – Rome, June 20, 2023 — Gold rose today as the US dollar slipped, but gains remained capped as traders await (US central bank) Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony later this week to get a clearer picture of the path of interest rates .
Spot gold rose 0.15% to $1952.98 an ounce, but US gold futures fell 0.4% to $1964.10.
Although dollar weakness should support gold, the precious metal’s gains are likely to remain limited ahead of Powell’s congressional testimony on Wednesday and Thursday, said Peter Fertig, an analyst at Quantitative Commodities Research.
The dollar fell 0.1% and 74% of traders expect a 25 basis point rise in US interest rates in July, to a range of 5.25 to 5.50%, excluding any rate cuts before the start of 2024, according to CME’s VideoWatch tool .
Higher interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding unprofitable metals.
In other precious metals, silver fell 0.1% in spot transactions at $23.91 an ounce, platinum also fell 0.7% to $969.04, and palladium fell 0.7% to $1396.35.
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