BENGALURU: Gold edged lower on Tuesday on a firmer dollar and equities as the market awaited cues on the path of interest rate hikes in the United States ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony on Wednesday.

The market was looking ahead to Wednesday and Thursday as Yellen will deliver two days of testimony on the US central bank’s semi-annual report on monetary policy and the economy.

Based on the minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released on July 5, Yellen may testify that the Fed will seek to reduce the central bank’s Treasury bond holdings and mortgage-backed securities by August, effectively tightening the supply of US dollars. The FOMC also indicated in the minutes that another interest rate hike would happen later this year.

“If the (Yellen) commentary is a little more hawkish, it’s going to put a little more pressure on gold again and going by previous FOMC minutes, it’s probably going to be,” said MKS PAMP analyst Tim Brown, adding “a lot of it has already been priced in.”

Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,211.34 per ounce as of 0656 GMT.

US gold futures for August delivery fell 0.2 percent to $1,210.50 per ounce.

Holdings at SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund fell 0.35 percent to 832.39 tonnes on Monday from 835.35 tonnes on Friday.—Reuters

Gold rises in NY

NEW YORK: Gold prices edged up on Monday from their lowest since mid-March in choppy trade, after nearing technical support and as traders awaited signals from central banks on interest rate hikes.

Bullion is highly sensitive to rising rates because they push up bond yields, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold. They also tend to boost the dollar, in which gold is priced.

Traders were looking ahead to Wednesday and Thursday, when US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will address Congress.

“We’re stalling right after the selling got a little exhausted on Friday,” said Phillip Streible, senior commodities broker for RJO Futures in Chicago. “A lot of people are forward-looking, waiting for Janet Yellen’s testimony later on this week.”

Spot gold, which dropped 2.3 percent last week, was up 0.07 percent at $1,213.61 per ounce by 2:32 p.m. EDT (1832 GMT), turning up after hitting $1,204.45, the lowest since March 15.

US gold futures for August delivery settled up $3.50, or 0.29 percent, at $1,213.20 per ounce.

Traders expected monetary tightening from many central banks. That rationale was bolstered by better than expected US jobs data and strong German export figures.

Gold holdings at the world’s largest bullion-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell 2 percent in the week to Friday.

Spot silver edged up 0.45 percent to $15.65 per ounce, after earlier falling to $15.16. Prices are near their lowest since April last year and investors’ bullish stance in the week to July 3 fell to its lowest since December 2015.

Platinum was down 0.47 percent at $899.25 per ounce and palladium was up 0.27 percent at $840.78 per ounce.—Reuters