BENGALURU: Gold prices were flat on Wednesday after hitting an almost one-week low, pressured by a stronger dollar as hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve’s official diminished hopes of a US interest rate cut in March.

Spot gold was flat at $2,027.29 per ounce, as of 1245 GMT. It fell 1.3% in the previous session in its biggest single-day decline since Dec. 4. US gold futures also fell 0.3% to $2,024.90.

“Markets were betting that the Fed was starting to cut rates already at the end of the first quarter of this year and now they’re recalibrating a bit after hawkish comments from some members of the Federal Reserve,” said Carlo Alberto De Casa, market analyst at Kinesis Money.

“So the US dollar and yields have gone up and this is not the best thing for stocks and gold, of course.” The US dollar hovered at a one-month high following Fed Governor Christopher Waller’s comment that the central bank should not rush to cut rates until lower inflation can clearly be sustained. Waller’s remarks triggered a broad sell-off, pulling all three major US stock indexes lower, while Treasury yields logged their biggest one-day jump in more than three months. Traders now price in around a 63% chance of a rate cut in March, compared to around 73% before Waller’s comment, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for buyers in other currencies, while high interest rates are also bearish for the non-yielding bullion.

Spot silver fell 0.4% to $22.79 per ounce. There are encouraging signs in commercial demand for silver, which ultimately may attract investors, Bank of America said in a note dated Tuesday, reinforcing its constructive view on the metal for 2024.

Platinum declined 0.5% to $890.37 and palladium slipped 0.5% to $931.25. The rate at which platinum is displacing palladium in the manufacture of autocatalysts is slowing, a trend likely to persist this year, according to analysts.