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by 3 minutes Read more* Gold reaches a two-week high* Gold might test $1,825 and $1,842 – analyst (Recasts, adds comments, updates prices) Reuters, July 6 – Gold prices were up 1% on Tuesday, having risen beyond the important $1,800 level, helped by a weaker dollar once again, as investors awaited the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting to learn more about policy decisions. By 0905 GMT, spot gold had risen 0.8 percent to $1,805.51 per ounce, having reached its highest level since June 17 at $1,808.91. Gold futures in the United States rose 1.2 percent to $1,805.20. “A weaker dollar appears to be helping gold,” said Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM. “While (last week’s) mixed jobs data has alleviated rate hike expectations, higher energy costs and economic data indicating to rising inflationary pressures may reignite these concerns,” Otunuga noted. The dollar index fell 0.1 percent, pulling down from a three-month high reached last week, making gold less expensive for holders of foreign currencies. On Friday, data indicated that U.S. companies employed the most workers in ten months in June, but the unemployment rate moved higher, assuaging concerns about an earlier than expected policy tightening and helping gold gain 0.4 percent in a week. According to Ricardo Evangelista, a senior analyst at ActivTrades, gold could gain higher “assuming there is no substantial shift in tone emanating from the Fed minutes being published tomorrow.” Furthermore, risk appetite will be key in determining investor attitude in gold, as the market is exuberant, which is not encouraging of bullion, according to Evangelista. The focus this week is on the minutes from the Fed’s most recent meeting, which are coming out on Wednesday, following the central bank’s hawkish turn last month, when officials anticipated a start to rate hikes in 2023, driving gold prices below $1,800. The opportunity cost of owning bullion, which pays no interest, rises as interest rates rise. Silver was up 0.7 percent to $26.63 per ounce, platinum was up nearly 1% to $1,108.10, and palladium was up 0.8 percent to $2,835.42. (Editing by David Evans; reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru)/nRead More

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