Gold regains some ground, but set for worst week in 9 months

Gold rose 1% on Friday as a pause in the dollar's rally helped it claw back some ground from sharp losses driven by the US Federal Reserve's hawkish tilt.

Spot gold climbed 1.1% to $1,792.00 per ounce by 1139 GMT, but was down 4.5% for the week. US gold futures gained 1% to $1,792.40.

There was some bargain-hunting after the sell-off and the dollar's rally has "stopped for a moment", helping gold, ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said.

Palladium gained 1.6% to $2,536.08 per ounce but was on track for its worst week since March 2020 after shedding as much as 11% on Thursday.

Silver rose 1.8% to $26.38 but was down over 5% this week. Platinum jumped 1.7% to $1,076.43.

The Fed on Wednesday signalled it would be considering whether to taper its asset purchase programme meeting by meeting and brought forward projections for the first post-pandemic interest rate hikes into 2023.

The dollar jumped to a two-month high after the Fed comments, en route to its best week in nearly nine months.

Gold's break below key technical prices levels were further bearish signals, analysts said.

But "in a now familiar pattern, the recent gold move has outpaced both the move in the dollar and in real rates, indicating it is due for an upward price reversal in coming weeks," Goldman Sachs said in a note.

Higher interest rates translate into higher opportunity cost of holding gold.

ED&F Man Capital Markets analyst Edward Meir also said gold's recent selloff was "somewhat overdone."

"Despite the current high-growth, inflationary environment, the proposed Fed rate hikes are not expected to set in for at least another 18 months. So after a little bit more weakness here, gold will regroup and push higher," Meir said.