Gold Price Settled Near Its Lowest Level in Three Weeks

Gold settled on Monday near its lowest level in three weeks, as traders awaited US inflation data for the month of December, which may boost expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner than expected after weak data on the US employment rate.

There was little change in the price of gold in spot transactions, recording 1795.11 dollars an ounce (an ounce) at 0234 GMT, after falling to its lowest level since December 16 at 1782.10 dollars on Friday.

And the price of gold in futures transactions in the US market fell 0.2 percent to 1794.00 dollars.

US Treasury yields rose last week after the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting minutes indicated a sooner-than-expected rate hike and the possibility that the Federal Reserve would cut its balance sheet sooner than many expected.

In other precious metals markets, the silver price settled unchanged at $22.29 an ounce, and the platinum price rose 0.1 percent to $956.10 an ounce, and palladium fell 0.3 percent to $1,927.25 an ounce.