Investing.com — Gold prices held steady in Asian trading on Friday but saw steep declines all week as concerns about high interest rates in the U.S. pulled the yellow metal from record highs.
Interest rate fears pushed broader metal prices higher and also weighed on broader metal prices. Among industrial metals, copper prices also fell sharply from record highs this week.
Gold was also hit by declining demand for safe havens, as the death of the Iranian president did not increase tensions in the Middle East as initially expected.
rose 0.2% to $2,332.77 per ounce, while the June term fell 0.1% to $2,333.85 per ounce at 00:37 ET (04:37 GMT).
Gold is posting steep weekly losses due to interest rate fluctuations
Gold is expected to lose about 3.4% this week after plummeting from record highs reached early this week.
Safe-haven demand for gold waned this week, leaving the yellow metal vulnerable to headwinds from concerns about high longer-term interest rates.
Hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve showed policymakers growing concerned about persistent inflation, with some even willing to raise rates further.
While more rate hikes seemed unlikely, the hawkish statements saw traders sharply scale back expectations for any rate cuts in 2024. According to the .
High long-term interest rates do not bode well for gold as they increase the opportunity cost of investing in the yellow metal.
Other precious metals held steady on Friday and are expected to post weekly losses. rose 0.4% to $1,029.90 per ounce, while the price rose 0.4% to $30.582 per ounce.
Copper remains steady after falling from record highs
on the London Metal Exchange the price rose 0.8% to $10,450.50 per tonne, while one-month US yields rose 0.7% to $4.8102 per pound.
Both contracts fell from record highs this week as a speculative frenzy that had fueled earlier gains appeared to abate. Traders were now waiting to see whether physical contract deliveries could take place on time, which would provide more clues about delivery terms for buyers.
Cooling sentiment toward top copper importer China also weighed heavily, as optimism about more stimulus was largely offset by a simmering trade war with the US and tensions with Taiwan.
