Gold settled lower on Thursday, with strength in the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields contributing to the precious metal's largest one-day decline in a month, just two days after prices marked a fresh record high.
The decline in gold prices comes ahead of Friday's highly anticipated speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming.
"Past years have seen central-bank officials make markets-moving pronouncements at the confab," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.com, in daily commentary. Powell's speech may offer some guidance on the size of an expected U.S. interest-rate cut in September, he noted. The Fed chair is expected to speak at 10 a.m. Eastern time Friday.
On Thursday, December gold declined by $30.80, or 1.2%, to settle at $2,516.70 an ounce on Comex after trading as low as $2,506.40. Prices based on the most active contract, settled at their lowest since Aug. 15 and marked their biggest on-day percentage loss since July 25, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Source : Dow Jones Newswires
