Gold prices drop as stocks, dollar firm ahead of US election outcome

BENGALURU — Gold fell on Tuesday as US equities and the dollar firmed ahead of the outcome of congressional elections in the United States, denting the precious metal’s appeal.

Spot gold fell 0.4% to $1,226.46 per ounce as of 2:26 p.m. EST (1926 GMT), while US gold futures settled down $6 or 0.49% to $1,226.30.

“It seems that the equity markets are doing pretty well ahead of the results of the elections. Unless we see any surprises in the elections gold will continue to stay range bound between $1,215 and $1,235,” said Walter Pehowich, executive vice-president of investment services at Dillon Gage Metals.

US stocks rose and the dollar firmed, but the moves were limited by investor caution about the elections.

The midterm congressional vote marks the first major test of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts and hostile trade policies. Polls point to his Republican party losing control of the House of Representatives which could curb some of his policy-making power.

“These elections could be important for gold if they slow the strength of the US dollar, which has been a major headwind to gold this year, or stoke uncertainty among US retail investors in gold should Trump lose support,” Standard Chartered analysts said in a note.

“We maintain a positive view towards gold, and believe prices are likely to extend their gains towards $1,300 per ounce, especially if the US dollar weakens after the US midterm elections.”

Market participants also waited for a two-day Federal Reserve meeting starting on Wednesday to gauge the outlook for US monetary policy, analysts said.

While the Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady, markets will look for insight into the central bank’s view on future interest rate increases. Higher rates discourage the buying of noninterest-paying bullion, which is priced in dollars.

“People are adjusting portfolios for the Fed meeting, that is what is in most investors’ minds right now,” said Michael Matousek, head trader at US Global Investors.

“Going into the next couple of days gold trading should be pretty light, so we’ll move around a bit. Nobody wants to hold big positions or make big changes before the Fed meeting.”

Indicating investor sentiment toward gold, holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell for the second straight session to 757.29 tons on Monday.

Among other precious metals, silver fell 0.7% to $14.53 per ounce while palladium declined 1.7% to $1,113.47.

Platinum gained 0.5% to $868.40 per ounce, having touched its highest since June 25 at $875.70 earlier in the session. —