Gold Up, but Stronger Dollar, Rising U.S. Yields Keep Gains Small

Gold was up on Tuesday morning in Asia. However, a strengthening dollar and rising U.S. Treasury yields capped the yellow metal’s gains, and investors await further clues from U.S. Federal Reserve officials on when it will begin asset tapering and hike interest rates.

Gold futures inched up 0.03% to $1,752.45 by 11:02 PM ET (3:02 AM GMT). The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, also inched up on Tuesday.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. yield briefly topped 1.5%, a level not seen since June 2021, during the previous session. The two-year yield also rose to its highest since March 2020.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will be joined by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to testify at a Senate Banking Committee hearing later in the day, with the House Financial Services Committee hearing following two days later. The Fed would move against unchecked inflation if needed, Powell said in prepared remarks.

He will also be joined by the Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey, the Bank of Japan’s Haruhiko Kuroda, and the European Central Bank (ECB)’s Christine Lagarde at an ECB Forum on Central Banking panel on Wednesday. Lagarde will speak at the forum later in the day.

In Asia Pacific, the People’s Bank of China on Monday vowed to protect consumers exposed to the housing market and injected more cash into the banking system. The Shenzhen government also began investigating China Evergrande Group’s wealth management unit as the developer’s debt woes continue.

Meanwhile, Narodowy Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) has more than 230 tons of gold and plans to expand its reserves, its president Adam Glapiński said on Monday.

Other precious metals were also on downward trends on Tuesday. Silver fell 0.8%, Platinum dropped 0.5% and palladium was down 0.6%.