Gold prices slipped on Thursday as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary policy tightening plan dimmed the metal’s appeal, with additional pressure from a rebound in equities.

Spot gold fell 0.18% to $1,849.52 per ounce by 2:12 p.m. ET (1812 GMT). U.S. gold futures settled up 0.07% at $1,847.6.

Minutes of the Fed’s May 3-4 policy meeting released onWednesday highlighted most participants favouring additional 50 basis point rate hikes at the June and July meetings, although it was no surprise to the market.

“The minutes didn’t change anything. The market has startedto realise the Fed will continue to take robust measures tocontrol inflation,” said Bart Melek, head of commoditystrategies at TD Securities.

“The tightening story is not over by any stretch of theimagination, and it’s probably a very safe bet to say that theinterest rate environment will continue to get morerestrictive.”

The yellow metal is highly sensitive to interest rate hikes,as it increases the opportunity cost of holding non-yieldingbullion.

Gold falls as dollar inches higher; Fed minutes fail to surprise

Gold prices are pressured in part by the stabilization ofthe U.S. stock indexes this week, said Kitco senior analyst JimWycoff in a note.

U.S. jobless claims fell last week, consistent with a labourmarket that remains tight amid strong demand for workers despite rising interest rates and tightening financial conditions.

Limiting the bullion’s fall, the U.S. dollar hovered near one-month lows, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield also fellto lowest since April.

“Gold seems to falter when it hits anything like a technicalresistance and then you get long liquidation and profit taking.So this is the key issue for gold at the moment,” independentanalyst Ross Norman said.

In other metals, spot silver slid 0.2% to $21.92 per ounce, platinum rose 0.7% to $949.85 and palladium rose 0.2% to $2,010.26.