LONDON: Gold steadied on Wednesday around a 5-1/2-year low hit last week, as investors awaited the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting for cues on the timing of the first US rate rise in nearly a decade.

Spot gold was at $1,095.10 an ounce by 1320 GMT, little changed from late on Tues­day, while US gold for August delivery was down 0.2 per cent at $1,094.50 an ounce.

The metal touched $1,077 last week, its weakest since February 2010, following a sell-off on exchanges in New York and Shanghai, when investors cut their exposure on fears of further price declines.

Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-traded-fund, New York’s SPDR Gold Trust, were unchanged at 21.87 million ounces on Monday, the lowest since September 2008, following a seven-day slide.

Spot palladium was up 0.2pc at $620.47 an ounce and platinum was down 0.1pc at $980.74 an ounce, both not far above multi-year lows. Silver was up 0.2pc at $14.71 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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