Gold prices fell on Thursday, deepening losses for the second straight day, and hit a 1-week low, as the 10-year US Treasury bonds rallied following the Federal Reserve meeting minutes, which showed Federal Reserve officials are preparing to move quicker in raising interest rate than expected.

Gold prices fell 0.3% to the lowest since December 29 at $1,793.74, after opening at $1,810.59, and hit a day high at $1,811.50.

Gold lost 0.2% yesterday, weighed down by the Federal Reserve meeting minutes.

The 10-year US Treasury bond yield rose more than 2% today, rising for the fifth straight day, and hit a 9-month high at 1.744%, which weighs down on demand for gold and reduces the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

This came as investors almost fully expect a US rate hike next March to tame the rising inflation risks in the US, following strong hints from last Fed's meeting minutes

The Fed members said the labor market is extremely tight, which might warrant a rate liftoff sooner, in addition to reducing asset holdings to ease high inflation.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF fell 0.32 metric tonnes yesterday, with the total at 979.99 metric tonnes.

Oil prices rose on Thursday, resuming gains after taking a pause yesterday, rising again near a 6-week high, following the the US crude inventories drop to nearly 3-month low.

US crude rose 1.2% to $78.14 a barrel, after opening at $77.20, and hit a low at $76.75, and Brent crude rose 1.1% to $81.0 a barrel, after opening at $80.10, and hit a low at $79.64.

The US crude closed flat yesterday, after hitting a six-week high at $78.56, and Brent crude fell 0.1%, after hitting the highest since November 26 at $81.48.

The Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed yesterday that US monetary policymakers may raise interest rates faster than expected, which affects risk assets such as oil.

The Energy Information Administration reported yesterday that the US crude inventories fell 2.1 million barrels during the past week, while analysts forecast a drop by 3.5 million barrels.

According to the data, the total US commercial stocks fell to 418 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending on September 17.

While the US held last week, with the total at 11.8 million barrels per day, which is the highest level since May 2020.

Sterling declined from seven-week highs against dollar on track for the first loss in three days on profit-taking following the minutes of the Fed's last meeting, which bolstered the case for a rate hike in March.

GBP/USD fell 0.5% to 1.3490, with an intraday high at 1.3557, after closing up 0.2% yesterday, the second profit in a row, marking seven-week highs at 1.3598.

The gains came as prospects pointed to a UK rate hike in the United Kingdom next month.

The dollar index rose over 0.2% on Thursday on track to hit two-week highs against a basket of major rivals.

The dollar's gains came as investors almost fully expect a US rate hike next March, following strong hints from last Fed's meeting minutes.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, as the US dollar fell against most currencies, and despite the release of US inventories data.

The Energy Information Administration reported today that the US crude inventories fell 2.1 million barrels to 417.9 million barrels during the past week, while analysts forecast a drop by 4.4 million barrels.

While the American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 6.4 million barrels during the same period.

The dollar index fell against a basket of major currencies by 0.3% to 95.9 points as of 16:54 GMT, after hitting a high of 96.3 points and a low of 95.9 points.

WTI February futures rose 1.6% to $78.2 a barrel, as of 16:49 GMT.

Brent February futures rose 1.4% to $81.1 a barrel.