Gold Near Its Lowest Levels in 4 Months

Gold prices remained close to their lowest levels in about four months on Thursday, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell left the door open for another interest rate hike aimed at curbing inflation. Spot gold rose by 0.25% to $1,912.19 per ounce by 01:23 GMT, after the precious metal recorded its lowest levels since mid-March at $1,902.69 per ounce on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures fell by 0.1% to $1,920.50 per ounce. The dollar index remained mostly unchanged. Powell indicated that there could be two more interest rate hikes and projected that inflation would not decline to the targeted 2% level before 2025. According to the CME's FedWatch tool, investors now expect an 81% chance of a 25 basis point rate hike in July. Raising interest rates leads to a decrease in investment in non-yielding gold. Silver rose by 0.6% in spot trading to $22.86 per ounce, while platinum increased by 0.7% to $916.73. Palladium surged by 1% to $1,261.66 after dropping to its lowest level in four and a half years in the previous session.