By 3 Min Read* In June, consumer prices in the United States jumped by the greatest in 13 years*. The dollar is down 0.1 percent against its peers. (Comments are added, and prices are updated.) 14 JULY (Reuters) – Gold prices rose modestly in Asia trade on Wednesday as US Treasury yields and the dollar dipped marginally, but the major attention was on US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech later in the day following a strong jump in consumer prices. By 0402 GMT, spot gold had risen 0.3 percent to $1,812.65 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures had risen 0.2 percent to $1,813.10. While gold has made modest gains as a result of a weaker dollar and lower yields, it has not been enough to move momentum substantially upward, according to Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA. “After the CPI statistics sent the dollar higher and raised long-dated bond yields, gold held up remarkably well overnight. This should offer positive investors some hope that gold may be regaining its inflation-hedging tailwind.” After posting its greatest daily percentage rise in nearly a month on Tuesday, the dollar index fell 0.1 percent. Benchmark 10-year yields have also dipped, implying a lower potential cost of keeping non-interest bearing gold. Consumer prices in the United States grew by the most in 13 years in June, according to data released on Tuesday. The focus now goes to Powell’s hearing before Congress to see if he has any thoughts on rising pricing pressures and likely monetary policy tightening. Powell has said several times that rising inflation is just temporary, and that supply chains will normalize and adapt. According to DailyFX currency expert Ilya Spivak, the focus will be on “the extent to which the Fed acknowledges that they misjudged how much inflation we’re going to receive and how sticky that inflation is going to be.” “I believe the path of least resistance for gold is down if we get confirmation of what we heard from the Fed in June.” Last month, gold prices fell 7% after the Federal Reserve of the United States signaled a faster-than-expected interest rate hike. Silver jumped 0.3 percent to $26.05 per ounce, palladium 0.2 percent to $2,833.37, and platinum 0.5 percent to $1,109.32 in other metals trading. (Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru contributed reporting; Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shailesh Kuber edited the piece.)/n
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