Gold eased on Thursday as stocks rebounded but managed to hold above $1,200 an ounce on bets the Federal Reserve could slow the pace of US interest rate hikes. Minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting released on Wednesday showed that policymakers considered changing the US central bank's planned interest rate hike path for 2016 on fears that a global slowdown and financial market selloff could hurt the US economy.
Although most of the policymakers still expected to raise rates this year and even discussed a hike at the January 26-27 policy meeting, they were divided over how to interpret financial market volatility. A slower rate hike pace could boost demand for gold, which posted its third straight annual decline in 2015 on fears that higher rates would dent the appeal of the non-interest-paying asset. Spot gold had eased 0.2 percent to $1,206.60 an ounce by 0718 GMT. It gained 0.7 percent on Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak.
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