Gold Gains Footing As U.S. Bond Yields, Dollar Slip

(Recasts, updates prices)

* Investors await central bank policy meetings

* U.S. 10-year Treasury yields dip below 1.6%

* Palladium drops over 2%

Oct 27 (Reuters) – Gold prices edged higher in seesaw trading on Wednesday, buoyed by a fall in U.S. bond yields and a softer dollar, although strong risk appetite in equity markets kept bullion’s gains in check.

Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,796.55 per ounce by 01:47 p.m. ET (1747 GMT), after falling as much as 0.6% earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures settled 0.3% higher at $1,798.80 per ounce.

“We are in a consolidation period for gold, but I think that eventually the policy tightening and inflation concerns should be positive for the metal,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at brokerage OANDA.

“Earnings have been fairly impressive, and that is surprising a lot of people… U.S. tech stocks are a favourite place to go for many investors, which is dampening the demand for a safe haven right now.”

Appetite for riskier assets remained strong after strong quarterly reports from Google-owner Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp lifted the Nasdaq.

Helping gold, the dollar index dipped 0.2% against its rivals. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields slipped below 1.6% to a near two-week low, decreasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Investors are now awaiting Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting and the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting on Nov. 3 for more clues on the tapering timeline.

The ECB is expected to keep policy unchanged and leave a decision on its pandemic emergency bond purchase programme to December.

While gold is often considered an inflation hedge, reduced economic stimulus and higher interest rates push government bond yields up, raising the opportunity cost of holding bullion.

Elsewhere, silver eased 0.1% to $24.10 per ounce.

StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell said interest in silver is building in the professional market and that bodes well for gold.

Platinum slipped 1.4% to $1,013.50 per ounce. Palladium tumbled 2.6% to $1,959.17. (Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/global-precious/precious-gold-gains-footing-as-u-s-bond-yields-dollar-slip-idUSL4N2RN4BP