Gold Eyes First Weekly Gain in Four on Cooling US Inflation

Gold bars from the vault of a bank are seen in this illustration picture taken in Zurich November 20, 2014. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

Gold prices rose on Friday and were on course for their first weekly gain in four, as US economic data indicated a softening of price pressures, fuelling optimism that a rate cut by the Federal Reserve might be forthcoming.
Spot gold was up 0.4% at $2,311.39 per ounce, as of 0654 GMT. Bullion has gained 0.5% so far for the week.
US gold futures rose 0.4% to $2,326.40, reported Reuters.
"Market will try to take cues from what type of comments are coming from Fed officials. But overall, we see that market is set for two interest rate cuts this year, because inflation numbers are softening and moving in a desirable direction for the Fed," said ANZ commodity strategist Soni Kumari.
"There could be sentiment-driven pullback in gold prices in the short-term. But that will be a buying opportunity for most of the investors who missed the rally initially."
Data on Thursday showed that US producer prices unexpectedly fell in May, another indication that inflation was subsiding, keeping hopes of a Fed rate cut in September alive.
The data followed a cooler-than-expected CPI report released just ahead of the Fed meeting on Wednesday, where the central bank pushed out the start of rate cuts to perhaps as late as December.
Traders are seeing a 67% probability of a rate cut in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, compared to 63% before the producer prices data.
Lower interest rates would reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
"The best recipe for gold would be continued weakness in inflation, then that recessionary appeal of gold will start to come through as a bit of an extension of expectations of potential rate cuts this year," said Kyle Rodda, a financial market analyst at Capital.com.
Spot silver rose 0.1% to $29.02 per ounce, platinum was up 1.2% at $957.75 and palladium gained 0.6% to $888.52. All three metals were headed for weekly losses.