Gold steadies as investors bet against US rate hike

Gold steadied on Tuesday ahead of a two-day US Federal Reserve meeting that investors are betting will leave interest rates unchanged. 
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,313.68 an ounce by 1420 GMT, while US gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,316.90. 
Spot silver was unchanged at $19.14 an ounce, after a near 2 percent increase in the previous session. 
Platinum was down 0.1 percent at $1,022 an ounce and palladium rose 0.2 percent to $683 an ounce, extending a 2 percent increase on Monday.
“We are back in this pattern where the expectations about the next rate hike determine the short-term swings — when they are pushed backwards, gold rises and when they are pulled forward gold declines,” Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke said. 
“The Fed will prepare markets for a rate hike, possibly in March next year, expectation of which will be positive for the dollar and in turn negative for gold.” 
Investors will listen closely to Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech at the end of the meeting on Wednesday for any hint that the central bank could raise rates before the end of the year.

Source: Arab News