© Reuters.
By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Tuesday morning in Asia, after hitting a five-month peak during the previous session. Persistent concerns about inflation continued to give the yellow metal a boost even as the dollar strengthened.
Gold futures edged up 0.16% to $1,869.55 by 11:05 PM ET (4:05 AM GMT) as concerns over broaden inflation added bullion’s safe-haven appeal. The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, inched up on Tuesday and remained near a 16-month high.
Investors now await U.S. retail sales data, due later in the day, to gauge the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next move on interest rate hikes.
Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said on Monday the U.S. Fed will raise interest rates if high inflation continues to persist, but added that the Fed should wait to see if inflation and labor shortages will be more long-lasting.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he was “very uneasy” about high inflation and that he voted to keep interest rates unchanged earlier in November when the central bank handed down its policy decision.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Monday that tightening monetary policy now to tame inflation could choke off the euro zone’s recovery, pushing back on the need for tighter policy.
“If we were to take any tightening measures now, it could cause far more harm than it would do any good,” she said.
In Asia Pacific, the Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes from its November meeting earlier in the day.
In other precious metals, silver was steady at $25.04 per ounce. Platinum inched down 0.1% and palladium fell 0.6%.
Source: Investing.com
