Gold rose again on Wednesday, supported by a weaker dollar and hopes of further interest rate cuts, as well as rising geopolitical tensions over the Hezbollah-Israel confrontation.
Spot gold settled at $2,657 an ounce at the time of writing, after hitting an all-time high of $2,670.43 earlier on Wednesday.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $2,686.10 an ounce, before retreating to $2,680 in recent trading.
The dollar index fell 0.1% to 100.37, making dollar-denominated bullion cheaper for holders of other currencies.
The dollar’s weakness comes as the United States begins its monetary easing journey by cutting interest rates by 50 basis points at a meeting held on September 18.
There are two more Federal Reserve meetings in November and December, with Wall Street analysts expecting another rate cut in one of the meetings, which will negatively impact the dollar.
Regarding geopolitical tensions, Israel has expanded its military operations against Hezbollah since Monday, and markets fear that the scope of the current operations will expand into a regional war.
As for other precious metals:
- Silver fell 0.78% to $31.84 an ounce.
- Platinum fell 0.38% to $982.
- Palladium lost 1.26% to $1,043 an ounce.
