© Reuters. Gold bullion in Mumbai, India, in a Reuters archive photo.
(Reuters) – Gold rose for a fourth straight day on Thursday as investors remained hopeful the Federal Reserve would cut rates significantly this year, even as the U.S. Federal Reserve rejected the idea of cutting them. In the month of March.
It was up 0.5 percent at 2046.63 an ounce by 0355 GMT. On Wednesday, the metal touched a more than two-week high of $2,055.89.
Meanwhile, U.S. gold futures were down 0.2 percent at $2,064.10.
Jigar Trivedi, chief analyst at Reliance Securities, said the US Federal Reserve expected inflation to hit the 2 percent target range, leaving the door open to cutting interest rates and not maintaining support for gold in March.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and ruled out cutting them in the spring. He also dropped a long-term hint that further increases in borrowing costs are possible.
Markets are also weighing issues at regional US bank New York Community Bancorp, which has increased the appeal of safe-haven assets such as bullion and US Treasuries. The benchmark 10-year yield is nearing its lowest level in more than two weeks.
Data showed that U.S. private-sector jobs rose much less than expected in January. Investors now await the non-January farm payrolls report, scheduled for release on Friday.
As for other precious metals, spot transactions rose 0.4 percent to $23.01 an ounce. Platinum was up 0.1 percent at $918.55 and up 0.2 percent at $978.50.
(Prepared by Rehab Ala for Arabic Bulletin)
