Gold prices ease to lowest settlement in over 3 weeks

Gold bars

Gold prices ended in the red today, Jan. 8, extending losses after the yellow metal ended a three-week series of gains last week.

Bullion for February delivery plunged by 0.80%, or $16.30, to finish at $2,033.50 per ounce, the lowest close since last Dec. 13, after hitting $2,022.70 an ounce in early trading.

Likewise, the US dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six major currencies, shed 0.15% to 102.24 points at 09:28 pm Makkah time, after rising to 102.62 points during the same session.

The CME FedWatch Tool showed that traders are now pricing in a 95.3% chance that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates at the coming January meeting. However, expectations that the US central bank will cut borrowing costs by 25 basis points (bps) during the March meeting descended to 66.3% from 73.4% a week ago.

Markets are awaiting the release of the US Consumer Price Inflation reading on Jan. 11, seeking cues about the future path of monetary policy during the coming period, especially after last week’s strong labor market data.