Gold prices fall on follow-up from Fed officials

Gold prices fell on Tuesday following the statements of US Federal Reserve officials, and the latest developments related to the pandemic.

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin confirmed that the Fed made a significant progress towards the inflation target in order to start reducing asset purchases.

Federal Reserve Governor and Vice Chairman Randal Quarles stated that the current rise in inflation is temporary due to supply chain imbalances and rising demand.

Meanwhile, investors are following up on the latest measures implemented to contain the Delta strain, with a number of countries heading towards tightening restrictions on arrivals from Britain.

Spot gold fell fell 0.2% to reach $1,774.73 per ounce, and gold futures contracts for August declined 0.3% to reach $1,775.80 per ounce, by 09:30am Makkah time.

Elsewhere, silver fell 0.3% to $26.17 per ounce, palladium declined 0.7% to hit $2,680.50 per ounce, and platinum was down 0.4% to $1,091.13 per ounce.

The US dollar index - which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six currencies – stabilized at 91.928 points.