(Bloomberg) Gold held a drop ahead of central bank policy meetings in the U.S. and Japan this week, with investors set to parse any signals from the Federal Reserve for the course of policy over the remainder of the year.
Bullion for immediate delivery was at $1,234 an ounce at 3:02 p.m. in Singapore from $1,233.03 on Friday, when the metal fell 1.2 percent, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. That pared this year’s gain to 16 percent.
Gold has rallied in 2016 on surging demand for haven assets as concerns over the global economy give pause to the Fed’s policy-tightening path while the Bank of Japan has taken steps to boost growth. Although the Fed isn’t expected to raise rates on Wednesday, investors are waiting for any guidance on the future trajectory of increases. The BOJ will expand stimulus at its meeting on Thursday, according to a slim majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Lan said that, absent news or data that could shift prices, gold is likely to remain between $1,225 and $1,255 an ounce ahead of the Fed and BOJ meets.
Holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by gold were little changed at 1,756.86 metric tons on Friday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Investors have increased holdings by 20 percent this year.
Bullion of 99.99 percent purity retreated as much as 1.1 percent to 257.5 yuan a gram ($1,231.07 an ounce) and was at 259 yuan on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.
Silver for immediate delivery, which entered a bull market last week, climbed 0.4 percent to $17.0398 an ounce. The metal rose to as much as $17.6973 on Thursday, the highest price since May 2015.
Platinum and palladium were little changed.
Source: Bloomberg
