Gold finishes in red but posts best quarterly performance in 4 years

Gold bars

Gold prices ended in the red today, Sept. 30, although the yellow metal achieved its best quarterly performance since early 2020, adding 23.1% to its year-to-date gains.

Bullion for December delivery fell 0.35%, or $8.70, to close at $2,659.40 per ounce. However, it achieved monthly and quarterly gains of 5.2% and 11.5%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.4% to 100.77 points at 09:54 pm Makkah time, but lost about 0.6% since year-start.

“We reiterate our long gold recommendation due to the gradual boost from lower global interest rates, structurally higher central bank demand and gold’s hedging benefits against geopolitical, financial, and recessionary risks,” Goldman Sachs said in a recent research note.

Elsewhere, in his latest speech, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed confidence in the strength of the US economy. He added, “We do not believe that we need to see further cooling in labor market conditions to achieve 2% inflation.”