Gold prices steady ahead of Fed meeting minutes release

Gold prices held ground today, Aug. 17, as investors await the release of the Federal Reserve's July meeting minutes, which may provide clues on the path of future interest rate hikes.

Gold futures for December delivery settled at $1,789.10 at 11:55 am Makkah time. Spot prices, however, dropped marginally by 0.1% to $1,773.93 per ounce.

Silver futures for December delivery shed 0.69% to $20.07 an ounce. The spot price for platinum weakened 0.78% to $930.8 per ounce, with the spot price of palladium also down to $2,150.57 an ounce.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Brian Deese, White House senior economic advisor, said fears the US would enter a recession due to high inflation were counterbalanced by positive economic data.

Meanwhile, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF), fell 0.18% to 992.2 tons on Aug. 16, from 993.94 tons the day before.