Gold Holds Near 5-month Low at $1,242.18%

Gold

Gold steadied near its weakest level in almost five months on Wednesday, December 14, amid expectations the Federal

Reserve would raise interest rates again at the conclusion of its last policy meeting this year. The Fed has increased rates twice in 2017 and is still expected to push through three more hikes next year.

Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,242.18 an ounce at 0755 GMT. That was not far above Tuesday’s trough of $1,235.92, which was gold’s lowest level since July 20.  U.S. gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,243.90 an ounce.

Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore in a bitter U.S. Senate race in Alabama, dealing a political blow to Trump in a race marked by accusations of sexual misconduct against Moore.

Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao said spot gold may bounce towards $1,250 before falling again, as it has stabilised around the support level of $1,239.

In other precious metals, silver fell 0.3 percent at $15.67 an ounce, trading close to a five-month low of $15.61 hit overnight.

Platinum was unchanged at $876.30 an ounce, after touching its lowest since February 2016 at $868.80 on Tuesday. Palladium was little changed at $1,012.