Gold is on track to register its worst performance in six years, despite prices continuing to hover above the important level of $1,800 per ounce in limited trading on Thursday. The declining dollar faced pressure from rising U.S. Treasury yields. Spot gold dipped 0.1% to $1,801.40 per ounce by 03:53 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,802.30.
Ilya Spivak, a currency analyst at Daily FX, stated, "This type of up-and-down fluctuation seen over the last 48 hours indicates a lack of specific fundamental drivers." Gold prices reached their highest level in a month on Tuesday, but then fell to their lowest level in a week in the subsequent session, closing unchanged, and are on track for the largest annual percentage decline since 2015.
Spivak noted that the first week of January will provide indications of the trend as gold appears to be caught between the speed and direction of inflation and what the U.S. Federal Reserve is doing to contain it, and how much of that. U.S. Treasury yields for the benchmark 10-year note settled near a month high, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.
For other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.5% to $22.70 per ounce, platinum decreased 0.3% to $964.96, and palladium dropped 0.5% to $1,973.75. All of these metals are also heading for the worst performance in several years.
