Gold Futures Settle Higher For 2nd Straight Day

Gold futures settled higher on Thursday, gaining for a second straight session, despite the dollar rising to a fresh two-decade high.

Gold prices advanced on safe-haven buying after Russia ordered a partial mobilization of reservists into service, raising its war efforts in Ukraine.

The dollar index rose to 111.81 in the Asian session, following the Fed’s decision to raise interest rate by another 75 basis points on Wednesday. The Fed also signaled more increases at the upcoming meetings.

The dollar index dropped to 110.46 subsequently, but rallied to 111.20 later on, gaining about 0.5%.

Gold futures for December ended higher by $5.40 or about 0.3% at $1,681.10 an ounce, after swinging between $1,663.30 and $1,693.50.

Silver futures for December ended up by $0.137 at $19.617 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $3.4710 per pound, gaining $0.0015.

After the Fed’s interest rate move, several other central banks, including the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank raised their interest rates to fight soaring inflation. The Norway’s central bank also raised its main interest rate to its highest level since 2011.

In U.S. economic releases today, the Labor Department’s report showed initial jobless claims inched up to 213,000 in the week ended September 17th, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 208,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge up to 218,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board released a separate report showing its index of leading U.S. economic indicators declined for the sixth consecutive month in August.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index fell by 0.3% in August after sliding by a revised 0.5% in July.

Economists had expected the leading economic index to come in unchanged compared to the 0.4% drop originally reported for the previous month.

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