LONDON: Gold retreated towards $1,240 an ounce on Wednesday as the dollar’s recovery from 10-month lows dampened upward momentum in the metal after three straight sessions of gains.

Gold prices had risen 2 per cent by late Tuesday from early Friday levels as the collapse of US President Donald Trump’s healthcare bill and waning expectations for further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year pressured the dollar.

The US currency rose 0.3pc against the euro on Wednesday, however, taking upward pressure off gold.

Spot gold was at $1,240.55 an ounce at 1453 GMT, down 0.1pc and off Tuesday’s two-week peak of $1,244.56.

US gold futures for August delivery were down $1.20 an ounce at $1,240.70. “With the sluggish dollar yesterday we had a bit of a move on the upside, but there seems to be some light profit taking coming in between $1,243-1,245,” MKS’s head of trading Afshin Nabavi said.

Silver was flat at $16.25 an ounce, off an earlier two-week high of $16.362. Platinum was 0.2pc higher at $923.50 an ounce after marking its highest since mid-June on Monday, while palladium was up 0.6pc at $868.75 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2017