Gold prices remained rangebound on Wednesday as traders assessed when U.S. interest rates might start to be cut and awaited fresh signals for more clarity on monetary policy.
Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,317.44 per ounce by 0444 GMT. U.S. gold futures gained 0.1% to $2,326.40 per ounce.
Markets are awaiting consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan on Friday and comments from a number of US Federal Reserve officials. The index data is due to be released.
US Consumer Prices May 15.
“The Fed is concerned about inflation but won’t raise rates any further and still wants to cut them if they get the chance,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tasty Life. “That’s the story. Not much will change until CPI comes out next week.”
Spivak added that if the data shows scary inflation, the US Federal Reserve will not be able to cut interest rates and this will put pressure on gold.
Higher interest rates reduce the appeal of non-yielding gold.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets currently expect a 65% chance of a US interest rate cut in September.
Official data showed on Tuesday that China's central bank added 60,000 ounces of gold to its reserves in April, continuing its purchases over the past 18 months.
Among other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.3% to $27.36 an ounce. Platinum fell 0.1% to $975.48, and palladium rose 0.4% to $974.93.
