Investing.com– Gold prices settled up on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s widely expected hold on interest rates, with some of the gains relinquished later in profit taking.
Increased uncertainty before the Fed meeting saw gold catch some bids in recent sessions, with gold futures reaching a session high of $1,968.75 and spot at $1,947.49. But those highs gave way to a stronger , which initially hit six-month highs.
settled up $13.40, or 0.7%, at $1,967.10 per ounce.
The was up $9.13, or 0.5%, at $1,940.56 by 15:08 ET (19:08 GMT).
Stronger also took some shine off gold, as markets positioned for a hawkish Fed.
Fed pauses, but warns of at least one more rate hike before the year-end
The Fed, as widely expected, at the conclusion of a two-day on Wednesday. But it also indicated that it planned a hike before the end of the year in its bid to bring inflation back to its long-desired target of 2% per annum from current levels of above 3%.
“We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate,” Powell told a news conference after announcing the Fed’s latest decision on rates. “The fact that we decided to maintain the policy rate at this meeting doesn’t mean we have decided that we have or have not at this time reached that stance of monetary policy that we are seeking.”
The Fed had raised interest rates 11 times between February 2022 and July 2023, adding a total of 5.25 percentage points to a prior base rate of just 0.25%.
Beyond the Fed, interest rate decisions in the and are also on tap this week.
The People’s Bank of China kept its key on hold at record lows on Wednesday, as widely expected. But the central bank was also seen maintaining its pace of liquidity measures, as it moves to support a slowing economic recovery.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this item)
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