Gold is confined to a narrow range

Gold prices moved in a narrow range on Friday, as the dollar stabilized near a 20-year peak, and the prospect of a larger Federal Reserve interest rate hike in the future undermined the non-yielding yellow metal’s allure.

And gold settled in spot transactions at $ 1670.19 an ounce by 0658 GMT.

US gold futures fell 0.2 percent to $1,678.20.

A number of central banks, from Indonesia to Norway, raised interest rates on Thursday, following the lead of the US Central Bank, which raised rates for the third time in a row by 75 basis points.

The actions taken by the major central banks have led to fears of a global recession.

Although gold is seen as a hedge in times of high inflation and economic uncertainty, raising interest rates weakens its attractiveness because it does not generate any return.

Gold prices have fallen nearly 20 percent since they topped the $2,000 mark an ounce in March.

The dollar index is still near its highest level since 2002, which it touched on Thursday.

As for other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.3 percent to $19.60 an ounce, and palladium fell one percent to $2148.01. Platinum also fell 0.7 percent to $894.27, bringing its losses this week to 1.8 percent, and it recorded the first weekly decline in three weeks.