By Brijesh Patel
(Reuters) – Gold rose on Friday and headed for a fifth straight weekly gain after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points this week and signalled a gradual easing path for the rest of the year.
Spot gold advanced 0.5% to $3,660.34 per ounce, as of 0503 GMT. Bullion is up 0.4% so far this week, after hitting a record high of $3,707.40 on Wednesday.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery were added 0.4% to $3,693.30.
“Sentiment is still bullish but has definitely cooled off a bit. Basically, the Fed didn’t really deliver with the dovish guidance needed for gold to push higher,” Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said.
“The projection of two more cuts this year was a positive. However, the forecast of only the one cut in 2026 was above market pricing and has had the effect of pushing up yields and the dollar.”
The Fed resumed rate cuts on Wednesday and opened the door to further easing, but tempered its message with warnings of sticky inflation, sowing doubt over the pace of future easing.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell characterised the policy action as a risk-management cut in response to the weakening labour market and said the central bank was in a “meeting-by-meeting situation” regarding the rate outlook.
Traders are pricing in a 92% chance of another 25-bp cut at the Fed’s October meeting, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
On the technical front, spot gold may break support at $3,630 per ounce and fall into a range of $3,596 to $3,617, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Elsewhere, spot silver rose 1.3% to $42.35 per ounce, platinum gained 0.3% to $1,387.62. Palladium, up 1.4% at $1,166.15, was headed for a weekly fall, losing 2.6% this week.
(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Rashmi Aich)
