Gold rises with the fall of USD ahead of Fed Chairman’s speech

Gold prices rose on Tuesday as the dollar weakened, as traders await Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech due later on Tuesday for hints about future interest rate hikes after strong economic data last week.

And by 0730 GMT, spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $ 1874.34 an ounce, after reaching its lowest level since January 6 in the previous session. US gold futures rose 0.4 percent to $1,873.00.

The dollar index fell 0.1 percent, after touching its highest level in about a month on Monday. A weaker dollar makes greenback gold more attractive to buyers who hold other currencies.

Gold prices topped $1,900 an ounce in January on hopes of a slowdown in rate hikes by the US central bank, but prices have fallen since then.

Market participants will closely follow Powell’s speech to see if his comments indicate significant tightening after last week’s strong jobs data.

Gold is sensitive to higher interest rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding a non-yielding asset.

For other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.5 percent to $22.37 an ounce. Platinum settled at $971.63, and palladium fell 0.1% to $1,596.53.