Gold is heading for its worst performance in six weeks

Gold prices rose on Friday, but were on track to record their worst week in six weeks. This decline coincided with the rise of the dollar and bond yields, following US central bank officials’ statements that dashed expectations of an early interest rate cut.

As of 07:43 GMT, gold in spot transactions increased by 0.2% to $2,027.39 per ounce, but it had fallen by more than 1% since the beginning of the week. Meanwhile, US gold futures rose by 0.4% to $2,029.60.

Although the dollar index fell by 0.1% on Friday, it had gained about 1% since the beginning of the week. A stronger dollar makes gold, denominated in the US currency, more expensive for holders of other currencies. Additionally, US 10-year Treasury bond yields rose to a five-week high of 4.1730%.

According to the IRBR application for measuring interest rate probabilities of the London Stock Exchange Group, markets are now betting on a rate cut of 141 basis points this year, down from 150 points the previous week.

In terms of other precious metals, silver increased by 0.2% in spot transactions to $22.79 per ounce, platinum rose by 0.6% to $912.78, and palladium saw a 0.4% increase to $941.49.