Gold prices slipped on Thursday as investors booked profits after a sustained rally and pressure from institutional investors looking to raise cash, while focus shifted to U.S. economic data for clues on the Federal Reserve’s rate path.
Spot gold was down 0.1% to $2,313.44 per ounce by 0443 GMT, on its fourth straight session of decline.
U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% at $2,326.10.
“There’s been some pressure on some investors, especially on the institutional side to perhaps raise some cash and they’ve done that by selling some of their commodity positions,” said Marex analyst Edward Meir.
“Profit taking after an extended run higher in gold and lower tangents in the Middle East resulted in a general pullback in prices.”
Bullion prices have fallen over $100 since hitting a record high of $2,431.29 on April 12, and have dropped more than 3% this week so far.
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The Fed’s rate setting committee is meeting on April 30-May 1. Before that, the U.S. first-quarter GDP data is due later on Thursday and the March core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) data is due on Friday.
While geopolitics have taken a little bit of a backseat, the dollar could weaken and gold prices could move a bit up if data shows an in-line or lower than expected core PCE number. However, if the inflation numbers run hot, gold could come under further pressure, Meir said.
Spot gold may retest support at $2,295 per ounce, as it failed again to break resistance at $2,336, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.3% to $27.09 per ounce, spot platinum edged down 0.1% to $901.60 and palladium lost 1% to $991.00.
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