BENGALURU: Gold rose and palladium hit a record high on Monday as the dollar was dented by expectations that the US Federal Reserve would halt its rate-hiking cycle for the year, lifting demand for the metals from holders of other currencies.

“The precious metals complex is fairly well supported given the loose monetary turn coming out of the Fed,” ING analyst Warren Patterson said.

Gold tends to gain when interest rate hike expectations ease because lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Spot gold was up about 0.6 per cent at $1,292.41 per ounce as of 1254 GMT. US gold futures gained 0.6pc to $1,293.90 per ounce.

Gold fell about 0.7pc in the previous session, its biggest one-day decline in about two months on the back of robust US jobs data, but has recovered since.

Meanwhile, palladium was trading at a premium to gold, having touched a record high of $1,313.24 earlier in the session.

Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.4pc at $15.75 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.8pc to $829, having touched a more than one-month high of $831.10 earlier in the session.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2019