Gold remained close to its lowest price in two months on Wednesday, February 14, and was trading below the key level of $2,000 per ounce, as a stronger-than-expected report on inflation in the United States prompted traders to reduce their bets on deeper cuts in US interest rates.
By 0429 GMT, gold settled in spot transactions at $1,992.21 per ounce, after recording its lowest levels since December 13, yesterday, Tuesday.
The yellow metal fell about 1.4 percent yesterday, the largest daily decline since December 4.
US gold futures fell 0.1 percent to $2,005.00 an ounce.
Gold came under pressure after the US inflation report showed the consumer price index rose more than expected in January, said Kelvin Wong, chief market analyst for the Asia-Pacific region at OANDA.
He added that this led to a delay in the expected timing of the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) reducing the interest rate, as well as the size of the cuts during the current year.
Data yesterday, Tuesday, showed that the consumer price index rose 3.1% on an annual basis, which exceeds expectations that indicated an increase of 2.9%.
The dollar index hovered near a three-month peak, while 10-year Treasury yields approached a two-and-a-half-month high.
As for other precious metals, platinum settled at $871.90 per ounce, palladium fell 0.2% to $862.14, and silver fell 0.2% to $22.04.
