Gold stalls in thin trading; eyes on Fed in data-packed week
Gold prices were flat on Monday in holiday-thinned trading, after falling last week on rising bond yields, while investors awaited remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve officials in a data-packed week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was little changed at $2,022.17 per ounce, trading in a tight range of $4, as of 0224 GMT.
* U.S. gold futures were steady at $2,036.20 per ounce.
* Spot gold fell 0.7% last week ended Friday, pressured by elevated U.S. Treasury yields.
* Trading is expected to be thin during Asian trading hours due to holidays in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
* COMEX gold speculators raised their net long position by 10,616 contracts to 82,591 in the week ended Feb. 6, data showed on Friday.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.2% to 841.92 tonnes on Friday from 843.66 metric tons on Thursday.
* Market participants will focus on U.S. consumer price index (CPI) data on Tuesday, retail sales data on Thursday and produce price index (PPI) data on Friday, while also awaiting remarks from atleast 7 Fed officials this week.
* Several Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, have said last week they want to see more evidence inflation will continue to decline before cutting rates.
* Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
* Traders have all but ruled out a cut at the Fed's next policy meeting in March, according to LSEG's Interest Rate Probability
