Gold slips lower; central bank buying set to boost demand

Investing.com-- Gold prices drifted lower Wednesday in tight trading ranges, with the Juneteenth holiday in the U.S. limiting activity. 

At 07:30 ET (11:30 GMT), Spot gold dropped 0.1% to $2,328.84 an ounce, while gold futures fell 0.2% to $2,343.20 an ounce. 

Gold set for central bank boost 

Gold and broader metal prices have retreated in recent sessions after the Federal Reserve said it expected to cut interest rates only once in 2024, compared to earlier forecasts for three cuts.

This has boosted the dollar, which makes gold, and other commodities denominated in the greenback, more expensive for foreign buyers, as well as increasing the opportunity cost of investing in non-yielding assets.

Gold hit a high of almost $2,450 in May an ounce, helped by strong demand from central banks, due to concerns about geopolitical instability and persistent inflation.

Last year, central banks added the second-highest amount of gold ever at 1,037 tons. In 2022, a record 1,082 tons of gold was purchased by central banks.

More buying is likely in the near future, as the World Gold Council’s annual survey, which polled 70 central bankers, found 29% of them plan to raise their gold reserves over the next 12 months.

That’s the highest level since the annual survey began in 2018.

The other precious metals have also traded in a tight range Wednesday. Platinum futures rose 0.8% to $984.75 an ounce, while silver futures rose 0.1% to $29.598 an ounce. 

Copper bounce after recent selloff 

Among industrial metals, copper prices rose Wednesday, rebounding slightly after having fallen to its lowest level in two months earlier this week.

Benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.3% to $9,800.30 a tonne, while one-month copper futures rose 1.4% to $4.5550 a pound.

The slump in copper’s price following disappointing industrial output data from China, the metal’s biggest market, as the housing and construction slump in the second largest economy in the world worsens.

Copper’s price had reached a record high above $11,000 a tonne in May of this year but has rapidly cooled due to worries about rising global inventory levels and weakness in China.