Investing.com — Gold prices were mostly unchanged in Asian trade on Thursday with little safe-haven demand despite political turmoil in France and South Korea as risk appetite improved and the dollar held firm. There wasn't.
A rally to record highs on Wall Street, as well as comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggesting a more cautious approach to future interest rate cuts, severely hurt haven demand for gold. .
By 11:14 pm ET (04:14 GMT), February expiry was down slightly by 0.1% to $2,672.99 an ounce.
Gold sees limited demand for safe-haven assets as risk assets soar
Safe haven demand for the yellow metal was limited this week despite the collapse of the French government, while South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol's failed attempt to impose martial law in the country There were growing calls for impeachment.
Risk-driven assets have largely wiped out political turmoil. Despite weakness in local markets in France and South Korea, broader markets were mostly higher this week, with strength in technology stocks pushing Wall Street indexes to record highs overnight.
Other precious metals also fell on Thursday. It rose 0.1% to $949.60 an ounce, while it fell 0.5% to $31.767 an ounce.
In industrial metals, the London Metal Exchange benchmark fell 0.2% to $9,086.50 per tonne, compared with a 0.1% decline in February to $4.1943 per tonne.
Dollar stabilizes after Chairman Powell's comments, awaiting salary payments
The resilience of the metals market, which has also been under pressure. The dollar soared earlier this week after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on several countries.
The dollar largely sustained these gains after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell praised the recent strength of the US economy.
speak at new york times (NYSE:) At the event, Chairman Powell said the strength of the economy allows the Fed to take a more cautious approach to future easing.
Although Powell did not downplay expectations for a rate cut in December, his comments raised some concerns about a slower pace of rate cuts in 2025. Expectations for inflationary policy under the Trump administration also increased uncertainty over the possibility of higher interest rates in the long term.
Rising long-term interest rates portend increased pressure on non-yielding assets such as metals.
This week's focus will be on key data released on Friday. This figure is likely to factor in expectations for future interest rate cuts.
