FX.co ★ Gold Futures Settle Lower For 2nd Straight Day

Gold prices drifted lower on Tuesday, falling for a second straight session, amid expectations the Federal Reserve will continue with its policy tightening measures and hike interest rates by another 75-basis points later this month.

Gold prices climbed up earlier in the session on safe-haven buying amid news of China re-imposing lockdowns in several cities, especially in Shanghai and Beijing, and disappointing economic data from Europe.

The dollar index, which rose to 108.56, a fresh near two-decade high, dropped to 107.84 a little before noon, but recovered a bit to 108.00 subsequently.

Gold futures for August ended lower by $6.90 or about 0.4% at $1,724.80 an ounce, the lowest settlement in about ten months.

Silver futures for September ended down by $0.174 at $18.958 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled with a loss of $0.1425 at $3.2880 per pound.

According to reports, nearly 30 million people are now under some form of movement restrictions in China as authorities struggle to stop the spreading of the highly infectious BA.5 Omicron subvariant of the COVID-19 virus.

Traders now await the release of a highly anticipated U.S. inflation report this week for clues about what the Federal Reserve may do next to fight inflation.

Reports on retail sales, industrial production and consumer sentiment are also due this week.