Gold fell to its lowest in nearly six years on Wednesday, extending losses as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she was "looking forward" to an interest rate hike that will mark the US economy's recovery from recession. In prepared remarks, Yellen did not indicate if she still expected a rate hike would be warranted at the Fed's last remaining policy meeting this year on December 15-16.
Her comments lifted the US dollar to its highest against the euro in more than seven months. Bullion prices slightly pared losses when the Fed later said in its Beige Book report that the US labor market tightened modestly in recent weeks with some upward pressure on wages and that US economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace in most regions. Spot gold was down 1.4 percent at $1,053.70 an ounce at 3:25 pm EST (2025 GMT), having fallen to the lowest since February 2010 at $1,050.25. US gold futures for February delivery settled down 0.9 percent at $1,053.80 an ounce after falling to the lowest since October 2009 at $1,049.40. Silver was down 1.1 percent at $14.04 an ounce, while platinum was down 0.8 percent at $831.74 an ounce and palladium was down 1.9 percent at $528.15 an ounce.
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