Gold hovers near six-month low as dollar, yields weigh
Gold edged up on Thursday but hovered near a more than six-month low hit in the last session, as the dollar and Treasury yields held at elevated levels, with markets awaiting U.S. economic data for clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was up 0.1% to $1,876.89 per ounce by 0040 GMT, after shedding 1.4%, its biggest daily decline in two months, on Wednesday.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.17% to $1,894.20.
* The dollar hit a 10-month high against its major peers while Treasury yields climbed a fresh 16-year peak, as investors bet the U.S.
economy will outperform its competitors in an environment of high interest rates. [USD/] [US/]
* Higher rates raise the opportunity cost of holding bullion, which is priced in dollars and does not yield any interest.
* Orders for long-lasting U.S.
manufactured goods rose in August, as an increase in machinery and other products offset a drop in civilian aircraft, and business spending on equipment appeared to regain momentum after faltering early in the third quarter.
* Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday rejected a stopgap funding bill advancing in the Senate, bringing closer the fourth partial U.S.
government shutdown in a decade with just four days to go.
* Market focus now turns to the revised U.S. GDP growth rate for the second quarter and weekly jobless claims due later in the day, with the August personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, due on Friday.
* Spot silver firmed 0.2% to $22.56 per ounce, platinum gained 0.3% to $890.01 and palladium rose 0.3% to $1,225.01.
