Gold prices fell by more than 2% during trading on Friday, July 19, at the settlement, with the rise of the dollar and amid profit-taking operations after the yellow metal rose to an all-time high earlier in the week, after expectations of a US interest rate cut in September increased.
By 1758 GMT, spot gold was down 1.9% at $2,399.27 an ounce.
Gold hit an all-time high of $2,483.60 on Wednesday, July 17.
The settlement price of US gold futures fell by 2.3% during Friday's trading to $2,399.10, according to Reuters, with gold witnessing a weekly decline for the first time in the last four weeks, with a decrease of 0.89%.
Pressure on gold increased as the dollar rose 0.2% against major currencies during Friday's trading, and also as 10-year US Treasury bond yields rose.
“Along with profit-taking, the market has been dragged down by this soft landing narrative; this could put pressure on the price of gold as investors shift their money from safe to riskier investments,” said Alex Epkarian, Allegiance’s chief operating officer.
He added: We see more investment-driven decisions and higher demand for gold.
Markets now see a 98% chance of a Fed rate cut in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The appeal of non-yielding bullion tends to shine brighter when interest rates are low.
Earlier this week, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said recent inflation readings somewhat increase confidence that the pace of price increases is returning to the central bank's target in a sustainable manner.
This suggests that an interest rate cut may not be far off.
Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 3.2% to $29.11 an ounce. Platinum fell 0.3% to $964.75 and palladium lost 2.7% to $905.09, with all three metals posting weekly losses.
