LONDON: Gold was pushed to its lowest in eight weeks on Wednesday by a strengthening dollar and high US bond yields, ahead of Federal Reserve minutes at 1800 GMT that will shed light on the pace of US interest rate rises.

A missile launch by North Korea prompted only a brief rally for gold, seen as a safe haven in times of uncertainty.

A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of other currencies and higher bond yields raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. Interest rate rises meanwhile lead to higher bond yields and tend to boost the dollar.

Spot gold was down 0.3 per cent at $1,219.91 an ounce at 1359 GMT after earlier touching $1,217.14, the lowest since May 10. US gold futures for August delivery were 0.1pc up from Monday’s close at $1,220.10 an ounce.

In other precious metals, silver was down 0.8pc at $15.94 an ounce, trading consistently below the psychologically important level of $16 for the first time since January. Platinum was 0.9pc lower at $902.25 an ounce. Palladium was down 1.8pc at $836.25.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2017