(Bloomberg) -- Gold was steady after advancing for three straight days as investors weighed a weaker dollar and the prospects for more U.S. stimulus amid rising inflation expectations.
Joe Biden’s administration has dedicated its first few weeks in office to spending more money on pandemic relief -- and shrugged off warnings that the economy may overheat as a result. The president backed House Democrats’ proposal for quicker phase-outs of planned $1,400 stimulus checks, and the House aims to vote on the full bill during the week of Feb. 22. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged to secure congressional passage by mid-March expiration of enhanced jobless benefits approved in the December aid package.
Bullion is holding near a one-week high as bets on a fast-tracked aid package are helping to underpin market-derived inflation expectations, which are at multi-year highs, and have fanned the so-called reflation trade. U.S. consumer price index data is due Wednesday.
Spot gold was steady at $1,838.67 an ounce by 7:35 a.m. in Singapore, after rising to $1,848.60 on Tuesday. Silver was little changed, while palladium fell. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat after dropping 0.5% Tuesday.
Platinum traded at $1,181.60 an ounce, near the highest intraday level since 2016. The metal is expected to benefit from tight supplies, strong investment demand and a global economic recovery, according to UBS Group AG (SIX:UBSG).
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