Gold Prices Struggle to Make Headway as Strength in Dollar, Yields Weighs

Investing.com – Gold prices were off their best levels of the day on Thursday as strength in the dollar and Treasury yields continued to weigh, keeping prices within reach of three week lows.

for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were trading at $1,323.50 by 04:54 AM ET (08:54 AM GMT), off an earlier high of $1,327.80.

Gold prices settled with a loss at $1,321.20 on Wednesday. It was the lowest close since April 6.

Gold had clawed higher earlier Thursday even as Treasury yields, which tend to move inversely to precious metals prices, remained higher.

The yield on rose above 3% for the first time since 2014 this week, a sign of confidence in the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Rising yields have come amid markets starting to price in four interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year, rather than the three signaled by policy makers.

The dollar was holding steady near three-and-a-half month highs, with the , which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, trading at 91.02.

A stronger U.S. currency makes dollar denominated gold more expensive for overseas buyers, while higher Treasury yields tend to make gold, which does not pay interest, less attractive to yield seeking investors.

In other precious metal trade, were down 0.19% to $16.47 a troy ounce, while were down 0.2% to trade at $910.90.

Among base metals, were down 1.36% to $3.092 a pound.

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