BENGALURU: Gold prices strengthened on Wednesday as the dollar eased after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, with investors now turning to minutes from the US central bank’s latest policy meeting to gauge future interest rate cuts.

Spot gold rose 0.7% to $2,345.00 per ounce by 1156 GMT. US gold futures gained 0.9% to $2,354.60. “Today’s price gains are related to the softening of the US dollar that came after the chairman of the Fed acknowledged in public that inflation in the US is finally starting to move in the right direction,” said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.

A weaker dollar makes bullion more attractive for other currency holders. Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday noted that the US central bank still needs more data before cutting interest rates to ensure that recent weaker inflation readings give a true picture of what is happening to underlying price pressures.

Data on Tuesday showed US job openings rose in May after two months of declines, indicating softening labour market conditions potentially prompting Fed interest rate cuts this year.

The market now sees a 65% chance of the Fed cutting interest rates in September as well as another cut in December. Lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Next in line for investors will be the ADP employment and weekly jobless claims data due later in the day, and the non-farm payrolls report due on Friday.

“There’s a clear path for gold to outperform from here, likely fuelled by Western flows. Conversely, in the event that central bank demand drops drastically, rates remain high for longer and Asian investor sentiment flips, we could see a pullback in the second half,” the World Gold Council said in its mid-year outlook report. Spot silver rose 2.2% to $30.17 per ounce, a more than one-week high.