Gold rose on Wednesday, briefly climbing to a new session high as the dollar pared its gains after US Federal Reserve minutes showed policy makers believed it would be premature to raise interest rates in June. Many officials at the Fed's April policy meeting believed that a bump in inflation was being offset by a weaker labour market and softer data, according to minutes from the meeting released on Wednesday.
Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,211.06 an ounce at 2:48 pm EDT (1848 GMT), after climbing 0.5 percent to a session high at $1,213.36 after the Fed minutes were released. US gold futures for June delivery settled up $2 at $1,208.70 an ounce. "A close reading of the April minutes shows the committee remains extraordinarily cautious regarding a rate lift-off given members' emphasis on the first-quarter slowdown," said Tai Wong, director of base and precious metals trading for BMO Capital Markets in New York.
"The bar remains quite high for an interest rate move and it appears quite unlikely that it will happen before September if even then." Wong added that this should be positive for metals and bonds, and negative for the dollar. Gold's firm session comes after it slid sharply on Tuesday. Gold prices have struggled to break out of a $1,170-$1,230 an ounce range since mid-March, hamstrung by uncertainty over the timing of an expected rise in US interest rates. Among other metals, silver gained 0.7 percent to $17.16 an ounce after falling 3.6 percent on Tuesday, its biggest one-day slide in three months. Platinum was up 0.5 percent at $1,158.70 an ounce and palladium down 0.1 percent at $774 an ounce.
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