BENGALURU: Gold rose on Wednesday as US mid-term elections delivered a split Congress and pressured the dollar, with investors now turning their attention to a Federal Reserve meeting for clues on future interest rate hikes.

Spot gold was up 0.5 per cent to $1,232.86 per ounce at 1203 GMT, while US gold futures climbed 0.7pc to $1,234.30 an ounce.

Market participants will now keep a close eye on a two-day Fed meeting starting later in the day to gauge the outlook for US monetary policy.

While the Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady, markets are waiting to see whether it offers clues about possible rate increases in December and in 2019.

Meanwhile, holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell for the third straight session to 756.70 tonnes on Tuesday.

Among other precious metals, silver jumped 0.9pc to $14.67 per ounce, while palladium rose 0.6pc to $1,122.10 per ounce. Platinum was up 0.9pc to $875.20 an ounce after hitting $877.50, its highest in over four months.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2018