Gold under pressure from short-term US interest rates forecasts

Gold prices declined in European trade for another session off two-week highs on active profit-taking, while dollar edges up against major rivals amid prospects for Fed policy tightening. 

Gold declined 0.55% to $1,842 an ounce, with a session-high at $1,855, after losing 0.7% yesterday, the first loss in six days on profit-taking off highs at $1,869.

The Dollar

The dollar index rose 0.1% on Thursday for another session against major rivals following the latest Fed's meeting minutes. 

The Fed

The minutes for the May 3-4 meeting showed strong commitment to combat inflation and tighten monetary policies to neutrality. 

The Fed is indeed preparing for two 0.5% rate hikes in the next two meetings to increase rates to 2.0%.

Estimates

Such a rapid pace of policy tightening is expected to weigh on gold prices, with analysts expecting prices to slide to $1,820 an ounce as dollar strengthens. 

The SPDR 

Gold holdings at the SPDR Gold Trust rose 1.74 tones yesterday to a total of 1,069 tones, a May 9 high.