Gold edges higher with focus on US inflation data
Spot gold was up 0.1% at $3,348.41 per ounce, as of 0638 GMT. U.S. gold futures for December delivery eased 0.2% to $3,397.10.
Gold slipped 1.6% on Monday, while futures dropped by more than 2% after U.S. President Donald Trump said tariffs will not be placed on imported gold bars, easing jitters in the market.
"Market participants now will be definitely focusing on the upcoming Fed rate cut, which has been more or less priced in for September. If we start to see the core CPI data came in slightly below expected, that could actually further support this rate-cut expectations," OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong said.
"That could lower the cost of holding gold and the long-term U.S. 10-year treasury yield still remains below certain key resistance level, so that could actually support gold prices."
All eyes are on U.S. consumer prices index data, which is due at 1230 GMT. Economists polled by Reuters projected that core CPI likely rose 0.3% in July, pushing the annual rate higher to 3%, away from the Fed target of 2%.
Traders are pricing in around an 85% chance of a Fed rate cut next month, as per the CME FedWatch Tool. Gold tends to perform well during periods of uncertainty and in a low-interest-rate environment.
Traders appeared to show scant reaction to a statement from a White House official that Trump signed an executive order on Monday, extending a pause in sharply higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports for another 90 days.
Elsewhere, spot silver gained 0.7% to $37.89 per ounce, platinum rose 0.4% to $1,331.50 and palladium climbed 0.8% to $1,145.03. - Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Crude oil market bets Trump's India threats are hollow
THE crude oil market's rather sanguine reaction to the United State s' threats to India over its continued purchases of Russian oil is effectively a bet that very little will actually happen. President Donald Trump cited India's imports of Russian crude when imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India on Aug 6, which is due to take effect on Aug 28. If the new tariff rate does come into place, it will take the rate for some Indian goods to as much as 50 per cent, a level high enough to effectively end US imports from India, which totalled nearly US$87 billion in 2024. As with everything related to Trump, it pays to be cautious given his track record of backflips and pivots. It's also not exactly clear what Trump is ultimately seeking, although it does seem that in the short term he wants to increase his leverage with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of their planned meeting in Alaska this week, and he's using India to achieve this. Whether Trump follows through on his additional tariffs on India remains uncertain, although the chances of a peace deal in Ukraine seem remote, which means the best path for India to avoid the tariffs would be to acquiesce and stop buying Russian oil. But this is an outcome that simply isn't being reflected in current crude oil prices. Global benchmark Brent futures have weakened since Trump's announcement of higher tariffs on India, dropping as low as US$65.81 a barrel in early Asian trade on Monday, the lowest level in two months. This is a price that entirely discounts any threat to global supplies, and assumes that India will either continue buying Russian crude at current volumes, or be able to easily source suitable replacements without tightening the global market. Are these reasonable assumptions? The track record of the crude oil market is somewhat remarkable in that it quickly adapts to new geopolitical realities and any price spikes tend to be shortlived. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent crude prices hurtling towards US$150 a barrel as European and other Western countries pulled back from buying Russian crude. But within four months, the price was back below where it was before Moscow's attack on its neighbour as the market simply rerouted the now discounted Russian oil to China and India. In other words, the flow of oil around the globe was shifted, but the volumes available for importers remained much the same. But what Trump is proposing now is somewhat different. It appears he wants to cut Russian barrels out of the market in order to put financial pressure on Moscow to cut a deal over Ukraine. There are effectively only two major buyers for Russian crude, India and China. China, the world's biggest crude importer, has more leverage with Trump given US and Western reliance on its refined critical and other minerals, and therefore is less able to be coerced into ending its imports of Russian oil. India is in a less strong position, especially private refiners like Reliance Industries, which will want to keep business relationships and access to Western economies. India imported about 1.8 million barrels per day of Russian crude in the first half of the year, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler. About 90 per cent of its Russian imports came from Russia's European ports, mainly Urals grade. There are some Middle Eastern grades of similar quality, such as Saudi Arabia's Arab Light and Iraq's Basrah Light, but it would likely boost prices if India were to seek more of these crudes. If Chinese refiners were able to take the bulk of Russian crude given up by India, it may allow for a reshuffling of flows, but that would not appear to be what Trump wants. Trump and his advisers may believe there is enough spare crude production capacity in the US and elsewhere to handle the loss of up to two million bpd of Russian supplies. But testing that theory may well lead to higher prices, especially for certain types of medium crudes which would be in short supply. For now, the crude oil market is assuming that the Trump/India/Russia situation will end as another TACO, the acronym for Trump Always Chickens Out. The writer is from Reuters
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Russia starts restricting some calls on Telegram and WhatsApp, Interfax says
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian authorities are taking measures to restrict some calls on Telegram and WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Meta Platforms, Russia's Interfax news agency cited Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor as saying on Wednesday. Meta and Telegram did not immediately respond to requests for comment. President Vladimir Putin last month signed a law authorizing the development of a state-backed messaging app integrated with government services, as Russia strives to reduce its dependence on platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Russia has long sought to establish what it calls digital sovereignty by promoting home-grown services. Its push to replace foreign tech platforms became more urgent as some Western companies pulled out of the Russian market after Moscow launched full-scale war in Ukraine. "In order to counteract are being taken to partially restrict calls on these foreign messengers," Interfax quoted Roskomnadzor as saying. "No other restrictions have been imposed on their functionality." Roskomnadzor said that the owners of both Telegram and WhatsApp had ignored repeated requests to take measures to stop their platforms being used for activities such as extortion and terrorism. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva and Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan/Guy Faulconbridge)
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
India cenbank committee recommends AI framework for finance sector
MUMBAI (Reuters) -A Reserve Bank of India committee has recommended a framework for developing AI capabilities for the country's financial sector, while safeguarding it against associated risks, according to a report released on Wednesday. The committee has recommended setting up a digital infrastructure to help build indigenous AI models and a multi-stakeholder standing committee to evaluate risks and opportunities. It also suggested building a fund to incentivise the development of homegrown AI models tailored for the needs of India's financial services sector. "The report envisions a financial ecosystem where encouraging innovation is in harmony, and not at odds, with mitigation of risk," the RBI said in a statement. The report contains 26 recommendations under six categories including infrastructure, capacity, policy, governance, protection and assurance. Other key recommendations by the eight-member committee headed by Pushpak Bhattacharyya, a computer scientist at IIT Bombay, include issuing of an enabling framework to integrate AI with existing digital public platforms such as instant payment system UPI, and designing audit frameworks. The central bank had set up the committee in December to develop a Framework for Responsible and Ethical Enablement of Artificial Intelligence (FREEAI) for the finance sector. "The challenge with regulating AI is in striking the right balance, making sure that society stands to gain from what this technology has to offer, while mitigating its risks," according to the report. (Reporting by Ashwin Manikandan; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
