Spot Gold holds near 3-week high on softer dollar, bond yields

Spot Gold edged higher on Thursday, while holding not far from recent three-week high, as the yellow metal drew support from US Dollar softness and a drop in US bond yields.

“The anticipation of this effective pivot towards interest rate hike cycle peak is translating to ongoing softness in the U.S. dollar and the longer-dated U.S. yield which will support gold prices, at least in the short term,” Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at OANDA, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year Treasury Notes was last at 4.408%, after slipping to a two-month low on Wednesday.

Market players are almost certain that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates on hold in December, while rate cut expectations for next year were dialed back.

As of 8:03 GMT on Thursday Spot Gold was edging up 0.28% to trade at $1,995.52 per troy ounce. Earlier this week, the commodity went up as high as $2,007.65 per troy ounce. The latter has been Spot Gold’s strongest price level since October 31st ($2,007.99).

Gold Futures for delivery in December were edging up 0.16% on the day to trade at $1,995.90 per troy ounce.

Elsewhere, Silver Futures for delivery in December were edging up 0.09% to trade at $23.710 per troy ounce.

The US Dollar Index, which reflects the relative strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was edging down 0.25% to 103.622 on Thursday. Earlier this week, the DXY went down as low as 103.178. The latter has been its weakest level since August 31st (103.009).