Gold Up After Key Central Banks Tighten Monetary Policies

Gold was up on Friday morning in Asia after key central banks tightened their monetary policies at their respective meetings this week.

Gold futures were up 0.32% to $1,803.95 by 11:14 PM ET (4:14 AM GMT), set for their best week since mid-November. The dollar which normally moves reversely to gold, inched down on Friday after the Fed withdraws its COVID-19 economic stimulus.

Key central banks are tightening monetary policies to calm high inflation while also keeping an eye on the impact of the omicron COVID-19 variant.

In Asia Pacific, the Bank of Japan handed down its policy decision earlier in the day, where it kept its interest rate unchanged at –0.10%. It maintained its dovish tone but could reduce emergency COVID-19 funding.

In a move that surprised markets, the Bank of England (BOE) hiked its interest rate to 0.25% when it handed down its policy decision on Thursday, becoming the first Group of 7 (G7) central bank to hike interest rates since the onset of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank boosted regular monthly bond-buying for half a year when it handed down its policy decision on the same day as BOE.

The Fed will accelerate its asset tapering program to $30 billion every month, it said in its policy decision meeting on Wednesday. The central bank also kept its interest rate unchanged but will have three quarter-point interest-rate increases in 2022, three in 2023, and two more in 2024.

Supporting the case for interest rates hikes, U.S. data on Thursday showed that the number of initial jobless claims for the week of December 6 was higher-than-expected 206,000.

In other precious metals, silver and platinum inched down 0.1%, while palladium jumped 1.1%.