Gold tumbled to the lowest in a year as rising oil prices added to inflationary pressures while traders sold the precious metal to cover losses elsewhere amid a global tech-stock rout.
Bullion fell as much as 3.2% to $3,891.67 an ounce, the lowest since Oct. 28 last year. A selloff in tech stocks continued, while the prospect of renewed US military action against Iran pushed Brent crude to its highest since April, an inflationary pressure that has forced investors to redraw their expectations for interest rates.
Gold is poised for its worst October showing since 2008, when the global financial crisis was upending markets. The precious metal is on track for a roughly 6% drop this month as concerns around renewed fighting in the Middle East keep energy prices elevated.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left the door open for an interest-rate hike before the end of the year, with traders pricing in a more than 70% chance of a December hike. Higher rates typically weigh on gold by increasing the opportunity cost of holding the precious metal, which pays no interest.
Bloomberg
Gold also remains vulnerable to broader equity liquidations. Technology shares led global stock losses for a second day as another round of disappointing earnings accelerated a rotation out of the artificial intelligence trade and into safe havens such as Treasuries. That followed an AI-fueled stock rout last week that helped drag bullion to the lowest since July.
“Higher oil prices are triggering a risk-off environment, which is triggering a Treasury rally. This is reducing liquidity for equities and gold is getting caught up in the momentum,” said Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.
In addition, gold has been trending down toward a key technical level, and trend followers are challenging the long-term support in both gold and silver, according to Melek.
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