Gold Heads for Weekly Lower on Expectations of Further US Rate Hikes

By Arundhati Sarkar

Feb 24 (Reuters) – Gold prices were set for another weekly decline on Friday, holding near two-month lows from the previous session, as prospects for further interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve dampened bullion’s appeal amid a series of strong economic conditions. data.

* At 09:46 GMT, spot gold was little changed at $1,821.80 an ounce, while US gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,829.60.

* Bullion has lost almost 7% since early February, after posting significant declines in two of the previous three weeks. So far this week, it has fallen almost 1%.

* Gold is trying to find support around the $1,820 level, but prices could drop further towards $1,776 based on good data on personal consumption expenditures, said Ole Hansen, chief strategy officer. raw materials at Sax Bank.

* “The market is looking to stabilize after a long-awaited correction, which has been going on for three weeks,” he said.

* The latest US economic data points to a resilient economy, giving central banks one more reason to keep raising rates.

* In other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.4% to $21.2014 an ounce; platinum fell 0.9% to $938.23; and palladium fell 0.5% to $1,441.70.

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar and Kavya Guduru in Bengaluru; Editing in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)