Falling Demand For Safe Havens Pushes Gold For The First Decline in 3 Years

Gold headed for its first decline in three years on Friday as the global economy recovered, reducing the appeal of safe havens as central banks prepared to raise interest rates to control inflation.

And by 1035 GMT, gold in spot transactions rose 0.2 percent to $ 1817.57 an ounce, and US gold futures rose 0.3 percent to $ 1819.70 an ounce.

And gold received support from the decline in the dollar index, which makes the precious metal less expensive for buyers of holders of other currencies.

Gold prices have fallen by more than four percent since the beginning of the year, after rising by 48 percent in the previous two years, with the recovery of the global economy, which reduced the demand for safe assets, including gold.

A Reuters poll in October revealed that gold is expected to average $1,750 an ounce during 2022, down from previous expectations under pressure from a possible interest rate hike.

Gold prices ranged in 2021 between 1676 and 1959 dollars an ounce, after its best annual performance in a decade during the past year, when gold touched its highest level ever at 2072.50 dollars an ounce.

As for other precious metals, silver increased 0.5% to $23.15 an ounce, while platinum fell 0.2% to $959.27 an ounce and palladium fell 1.5 percent to $1,935.80 an ounce, on their way to recording the largest annual decline in seven years.