Gold slips despite growing prospect of imminent US monetary easing

Gold bars

Gold prices continued to decline today, Aug. 22, after losses incurred yesterday amid investor profit-taking, although the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed that US policymakers' concerns about inflation had subsided.

Bullion for December delivery shed 0.34%, or $8.70, to $2,538.80 per ounce at 09:00 am Makkah time, after falling for the first time in five sessions at the end of yesterday’s trading. Spot prices also eased 0.28% to $2,505.63 an ounce.

Silver futures for September delivery held steady at $29.52 per ounce, while platinum spot prices advanced by 0.20% to $967.24 an ounce.

The US central bank revealed yesterday the minutes of its last July meeting, during which interest rates were fixed. Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) agreed that the US has made strides in containing inflation over recent months.

The document stated that “several [meeting participants] observed that the recent progress on inflation and increases in the unemployment rate had provided a plausible case for reducing the target range 25 basis points at this meeting or that they could have supported [a September rate cut] decision.”

However, this new information failed to support gold prices as investors took profits after the precious metal achieved new record levels several times over the course of this month.

This came as the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, climbed by 0.18% to 101.22 points.