The yellow metal is bullish at the start of the London session today, trading close to an eight-month high it touched earlier in the week, as investors take a bullish stance after the U.S Federal Reserve minutes were released.
Gold futures is up 0.98%, currently trading $1,890.15 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY), which measure the strength of the United States’ dollar and is known for moving inversely to gold, is currently trading marginally bullish by 0.18%, trading 95.86 basis points.
Investors are reacting to the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s last meeting, released on Wednesday. The minutes showed that the central bank will hike its interest rates imminently and continue to monitor inflation levels. The minutes also showed that the officials had not decided on a particular pace of interest rate hikes.
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The U.S. Commerce Department also released data yesterday that showed core retail sales grew 3.3% month-on-month, and retail sales grew 3.8% month-on-month, in January. This was the highest growth in 10 months, driven by rising purchases of motor vehicles and other goods.
Data was also front and centre in Asia Pacific during the Asian trading session this morning. Japanese trade data reveals that exports grew 9.6% year-on-year, while imports grew 39.6% year-on-year, in January. The adjusted trade balance was at -JPY930 billion ($8.05 billion), while the trade balance was at -JPY2.19 trillion.
In Australia, employment data released earlier in the day showed that the employment change was 12,900 and the full employment change was -17,000, in January. The unemployment rate was 4.2%.
Investors are also monitoring US-Russia tensions over Ukraine. The U.S. cast doubt on Russia’s claims that it had withdrawn troops from the Ukraine border and stated that Russia added as many as 7,000 troops instead. However, Russia continues to deny any plans to attack Ukraine, calling the U.S. claims “hysteria”.
In other precious metals, Silver is up 0.87%, currently trading $23.81 an ounce. Platinum is up 1.47%, currently trading $1,079.30 an ounce. Palladium is up 2.73%, currently trading $2,333.52 an ounce.
