By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Friday morning in Asia, easing towards its biggest weekly drop since late November 2021. Hopes that progress in ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia dented the yellow metal’s safe-haven appeal.
Gold futures were down 0.40% to $1,935.40 by 12:24 AM ET (4:24 AM GMT), dropping around 2.4% in the week to date.
"The reality is that as the concerns about the outlook for Ukraine eased, so did the gold price and talks this week of the 15-point peace plan and potential for agreement between Russia and Ukraine has seen prices come off," Tiger Brokers chief strategy officer Michael McCarthy told Reuters.
"To some extent, the U.S. dollar has been an important factor and one of the things that pulled back gold from that attempt at the all-time highs."
Russia appeared to have stalled its advance on Ukrainian cities after its invasion on Feb. 24. Officials from the two countries met again for peace talks, however, progress was limited.
"Certainly a quarter-point lifting rates was expected, but what wasn't expected was six more increases over the course of 2022. This is a hawkish statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve," said McCarthy. He was referring to the central bank’s interest rate to 0.5% as it handed down its policy decision on Wednesday.
Across the Atlantic, the Bank of England hiked its interest rates to 0.75% as it handed down its policy decision on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan kept its interest rate steady at -0.10% as it handed down its policy decision earlier in the day.
In other precious metals, palladium jumped 2.7% but was set for a second consecutive weekly fall of about 8%. Silver was down 0.3% and was set for its first weekly dip in seven. Platinum was flat at $1,021.62 but was set for a weekly dip of 5%, the biggest since November 2021.