Gold prices on Thursday, January 19, steadied after suffering its biggest fall in more than a month in the previous session on Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s indication that the U.S. central bank would press ahead with interest rate increases.
The precious metal had slumped by 1.1 percent on Wednesday, the most since Dec. 15, after Yellen’s remarks lifted the dollar by as much as 2 percent.
This remark made gold more expensive for holders of other currencies. U.S. bond yields, meanwhile, rose to their highest since Jan. 9, reducing the attraction of non-yielding bullion.
Spot gold continued to fall in early trading on Thursday, touching a low of $1,197.3 an ounce before recovering to $1,202.75 at 1116 GMT, 0.1 percent down on the day.
In other precious metals, silver fell 0.4 percent to $16.95 an ounce, platinum lost 0.5 percent to $956.95 and palladium was up 0.2 percent at $750 an ounce, Reuters reports.
Analysts said that gold’s wobble could signal the end of a rally that has lifted the metal by 8 percent from a mid-December low to hit an eight-week high of $1,218.64 on Tuesday.
