Gold eases as spotlight turns to Fed speak for interest rate cues

Gold eases as spotlight turns to Fed speak for interest rate cues

Gold eased on November 6 as investors cautiously turned back to riskier assets, and positioned for a host of Federal Reserve speakers this week including Jerome Powell for clarity on U.S. rate cuts.

Spot gold was down 0.5% at $1,983.59 per ounce at 10:46 a.m. ET (1546 GMT) after rising above the key $2,000 level on Friday. U.S. gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,990.40.

Risk appetite is a bit better and there have been no major surprise developments from the Israel-Hammas war, and this is taking away a little bit of the safe-haven bidding for gold and silver, said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals.

Bullion gained over 7% in October as the Middle East conflict boosted safe-haven demand.

Wall Street's main indexes inched up on Monday. Investors will watch out for at least nine Fed members speaking this week, including Powell on Nov. 9. [.N]

Traders are pricing in a 90% chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged in December, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

"Gold and silver market bulls have a little bit of ammunition as the expectation is that there will be no further rate hikes, which is pressuring the U.S. dollar," added Wyckoff.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising U.S. interest rates, as they increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset.

For gold to sustainably move above $2,000/oz, it may need a clearer signal from the Fed that cuts are coming, and the return of investors to ETFs (exchange-traded-funds), Heraeus Metals wrote in a note. [GOL/ETF]

Speculators raised their net long positions in COMEX gold futures by 15,661 contracts to 106,343 in the week ended Oct. 31, CFTC data showed on Friday. [CFTC/]

Silver was down 0.5% to $23.08 per ounce, platinum fell 1.2% to $918.94 and palladium fell 0.8% to $1,110.88.