Gold prices drop marginally, remains above $1,705

Gold futures saw a marginal drop today, July 19, but still remained above $1,705 as investors assess expectations for interest rate hikes and inflation rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.

Gold futures for August delivery fell 0.23% to $1,706.20 an ounce at 10:35 am Makkah time, with spot prices reaching $1,709.39 per ounce.

Elsewhere, silver futures for September delivery also declined 0.72% to $18.71 an ounce. The spot price of platinum, meanwhile, jumped 0.22% to $865.15, with the spot price of palladium also up 1.20% to $1,879.06.

The main dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six currencies, shed 0.54% to 106.82 points.

Data from the Swiss customs office showed that gold imports from Russia plunged to 284 kilograms (kgs) in June from 3,089 kgs in the month before, which is less than over three tons imported in May.

This comes at a time when the UK, US, Canada and Japan decided to ban imports of Russian gold, in an attempt to reduce Russia's revenues amid the Ukrainian crisis.