Gold Up, Dollar Continues to Strengthen Ahead of U.S. Inflation Data

By Zhang Mengying

Investing.com – Gold was down on Wednesday morning in Asia. U.S. strengthened ahead of U.S. inflation data for June, which is expected to hit a record high.

inched up 0.06% to $1,726.00 by 11:36 PM ET (3:36 AM GMT). The , which normally moves inversely to gold, edged up on Wednesday morning.

Benchmark rose, denting the demand for non-yielding gold.

Investors now await for more clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path, which is due later in the day. Analysts predicted that the print would hit a pandemic peak in June from a year earlier, the largest jump since 1981.

The CPI data could fuel investors’ expectations for a 75-basis-point interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve later this month, as the U.S. central bank seeks to tame inflation.

SPDR Gold Trust (P:), the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.17 to 1,021.52 tons on Tuesday from 1,023.27 tons on Monday.

In Asia Pacific, South Korea’s central bank joined its global peers and delivered earlier in the day a historic half-point interest rate hike to bring down soaring prices.

In other precious metals, silver fell 0.30%. Platinum jumped 0.36% while palladium edged down 0.11%.