By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Tuesday morning in Asia, after trading flat as the Asian session opened. The dollar also inched upwards over wide expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin asset tapering in November 2021.
Gold futures edged up 0.16% to $1,758.55 by 11:36 PM ET (3:36 AM GMT). The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, inched up on Tuesday and remained near a one-year high touched in September. Surging energy prices and wide expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon begin asset tapering contributed to the dollar’s rally.
Investors will also monitor comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, due later in the day, and the minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting, due on Wednesday.
However, across the Atlantic, the tune was slightly different. Current levels of inflation in the eurozone will not trigger monetary policy action as growth in services prices and wages remains weak, European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane said on Monday.
The Bank of Korea also kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.75% as it handed down its policy decision earlier in the day.
In other precious metals, silver edged down 0.2%, while platinum fell 0.5%.
Palladium dropped 0.4% to $2,103.16, after hitting its highest since Sep. 10 at $2,182.67 on Monday. Russia’s Nornickel, the largest producer of the metal globally, cut its deficit estimate for the global palladium market in 2021 and into 2022 due to the flagging recovery of the auto sector, a senior executive told Reuters.