Gold fell for the third straight day as the market reacted to the minutes from last month’s Federal Reserve meeting.
Spot gold price was below US$1,200 for the first time this week at US$1,195.
The minutes revealed a mix of opinions with some Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members keen to raise interest rates in June with others preferring to defer until the end of the year.
The dollar strengthened against a basket of other major currencies today as the market’s verdict was they bolstered the likelihood of a June rise.
Analysts at Commerzbank said: “The minutes of the last meeting of the Fed show that FOMC members do not appear to be overly concerned about the appreciation of the US dollar.
“The Fed is therefore likely to maintain its strategy and start to raise interest rates later this year.”
Higher interest rates make non-interest yielding assets such as gold less attractive.
Coupled with a stronger dollar, gold was trading at its lowest level for a week and below the price prior to last week’s non-farm payroll numbers.
Silver was down more than 1.5% to US$16.17 while platinum shed US$8.87 to US$1,157.
Major Movers
Randgold Resources up 71p to 4,762p
Fresnillo up 5p to 691p
Anglo American down 0.5p to 1,026p