GOLD UP, PALLADIUM DOWN

GOLD resumed its climb yesterday after a knee-jerk retreat tied to the release of US inflation data, as the dollar slipped with investors latching on to a slight cooling of consumer prices.

Spot gold price was up 0.8 percent to $1 852.15 (about R29 874) an ounce by 5.53pm.

US gold futures gained 0.7 percent to $1 852.80 an ounce.

US consumer price growth slowed in April as fuel prices eased off record highs, suggesting inflation had probably peaked, although it was likely to stay hot for a while and keep the US Federal Reserve (Fed) raising interest rates to cool demand.

Helping gold advance, the dollar index , which initially strengthened on the CPI data, edged back down about 0.3 percent.

“The market saw the print and went ‘sell, sell, sell’. But gold has since bounced back with the thinking that the data is higher than expected, but not horrifying,” said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader in New York.

“The Fed won’t get more hawkish with this report, but definitely won’t ease off either.”

US central bank officials on Tuesday fortified their arguments for the swiftest series of rate hikes since at least the 1990s to combat inflation.

“Overall, gold hasn’t been a bad investment. It’s been holding a fairly tight range, I’d much rather own gold than Nasdaq, or Bitcoin,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

“We expect (gold) prices to revert to taking cue from real yields as the year unfolds, encountering downside pressure in H2 but remaining elevated relative to historical levels,” said Suki Cooper, an analyst at Standard Chartered.

Spot silver gained 2.4 percent to $21.74 an ounce, platinum climbed 3.7 percent to $999.22, while palladium eased 0.6 percent to $2 054.12 an ounce.