Gold prices steadied on Wednesday after hitting an all-time high on Tuesday, lifted by growing hopes of a U.S. interest rate cut in September following recent comments from Federal Reserve officials.
Price movements
Spot gold was steady at $2,467.48 an ounce by 05:00 GMT, after hitting a record high of $2,482.29 on Tuesday.
US gold futures rose 0.24 percent to $2,473.80 an ounce.
Ricardo Evangelista of ActiveTrades saw gold benefiting from a weaker dollar and lower Treasury yields, gold's rival assets, after data last week showed U.S. inflation was falling to near-hopeful levels.
“There is no doubt that the recent rally in gold prices can be attributed at least in part to a weaker dollar and lower bond yields, thanks to weaker-than-expected US data and an unexpected 3% drop in US consumer price inflation last week,” said Fawad Razaqzadeh, an analyst at City Index.
He stressed that gold remains a safe haven thanks to its preservation of value.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday that recent inflation readings add some confidence that the pace of price increases is returning to the Fed's target in a sustainable way, comments that suggest a shift to lower interest rates may not be far off.
Federal Reserve official Adriana Kogler also expressed cautious optimism on Tuesday about inflation returning to the U.S. central bank's 2 percent target.
“If gold prices pull back, $2,450, near the previous record high, looks like a tempting level for speculators to buy in anticipation of the next rally,” said Matt Simpson, chief analyst at City Index.
