Gold stalls

Reuters

Bengaluru

Gold held steady on Friday to keep most of its gains from the previous session, with the dollar slipping after minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve´s last policy meeting downplayed the chance of more aggressive interest rate hikes.

The minutes showed policymakers agreed they should hold off on raising interest rates until it was clear a recent U.S. economic slowdown was temporary, although most said a hike was coming soon.

Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond yields up, putting pressure on gold prices by increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,258.61 per ounce by 0326 GMT.

It rose about 0.6 percent on Wednesday.

U.S. gold futures were up 0.5 percent at $1,258.7 an ounce. "I do not think the market´s view for two more rate hikes has changed following the release of the Fed meeting minutes," said Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau.