By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia, with the U.S. Federal Reserve signaling that asset tapering could begin within 2021 and that interest rate hikes could come sooner than expected as well.
Gold futures fell 0.80% to $1764.65 by 11:48 PM ET (3:48 AM GMT). The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, edged down after earlier gains on Thursday but remained near a one-month high.
The Fed handed down its latest policy decision on Wednesday and said that asset tapering could begin as soon as November. It could also hike interest rates in 2022 to tackle rising inflation.
The Bank of England and Norges Bank will hand down their respective policy decisions later in the day.
In Asia Pacific, the Bank of Japan kept its interest rate unchanged at -0.10% as it handed down its policy decision on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the region, China Evergrande Group (HK:3333) on Wednesday temporarily alleviated fears about an imminent market shock from its debt crisis. The property developer reached an agreement to settle interest payments on a domestic bond, while the People’s Bank of China also injected cash into the banking system.
Investors nervously await whether the company can make good on the $83.5 million in interest on an offshore bond, due on Thursday, as well as its $300 billion of liabilities.
Meanwhile, Russia produced 173.99 tons of gold between January and July, down from the 176.30 tons it produced in the same period in 2020, the county’s Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.
In other precious metals, silver fell 0.5% and platinum was down 0.4%. Palladium eased 0.1% to $2,020.96 but prices rose 6.2% on Wednesday, the biggest one-day gain since March 2020.