During these moments of trading on Monday, the prices of spot gold contracts turned to rise after they had been declining a short while ago, as this coincides with the dollar index turning to decline after it had been high. Prices are moving towards the level of $1,950 per ounce.

Meanwhile, investors are awaiting the release of US inflation data this week for further evidence on whether the Federal Reserve (US central bank) will remain unchanged on interest rates or raise them.

Markets are awaiting important data

Gold fell 2.8% last week, marking its worst week in more than a month, as hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pushed away any thought of interest rate cuts.

“People are kind of focused on whether the CPI data will allow the Fed to pause or raise interest rates,” said Nicholas Vrabel, global head of institutional markets at ABC Refinery. So I think the markets will move sideways before that data.

US CPI data is due on Tuesday. A Reuters poll showed that the core CPI is expected to rise on a monthly basis by 0.3% in October, with an increase of 4.1% on a yearly basis.

The dollar index turned lower against its competitors after hitting a one-week high in the previous session, making the metal more attractive to holders of other currencies.

Meanwhile, holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed ETF, rose 0.10% to 868.14 tons on Friday.

The macroeconomic backdrop has become supportive for gold

Beyond haven demand driven by geopolitical risks and central bank purchases, the macroeconomic backdrop has turned supportive for gold, ANZ analysts said in a note.

ANZ analysts noted that the US monetary tightening cycle is coming to an end, and the US dollar has peaked. Consequently, this may lead to a decline in the yield on US 10-year bonds and a weakness in the US dollar, which will support investment demand for gold.

Data from the University of Michigan, released on Friday, revealed that the consumer confidence index declined by 5% on a monthly basis to 60.4 points in the preliminary reading for November, while long-term inflation expectations rose to 3.2% from 3% last month, which is the highest reading since. 2011.

The Federal Reserve rate tracking tool on Investing Saudi Arabia showed that investors’ preference for the Federal Reserve not to change its monetary policy was 91.2% during the next meeting in December, compared to 90.2% one week ago.

Gold at settlement on Friday

Gold prices fell at the settlement of trading, on Friday, as markets evaluated previous statements from Federal Chairman Jerome Powell that renewed fears of monetary tightening, in light of data indicating that inflation expectations in the United States had risen to the highest level in 12 years.

Upon settlement, the value of gold futures contracts for December delivery fell by 1.65%, or $32.1, at $1,937.7 per ounce, recording weekly losses of 3.1%.

Gold and the dollar at 10:35 Saudi time

Gold futures rose 0.36% to $1,944 an ounce.

While spot gold contracts rose by 0.1% to $1,940 an ounce.

On the other hand, the dollar index fell by 0.1% to 105.62 points.

other metals

Silver fell in spot transactions by one percent to $21.98 per ounce, while platinum gained 0.7 percent to $845.52.

Palladium rose 0.2 percent to $964.89 per ounce, but remained near its lowest levels since 2018.