Gold retreats from 1-month high as dollar firms

Investing.com – Gold retreated from a one-month high, despite an increase in safe haven demand amid ongoing geopolitical concerns in Europe while hawkish comments concerning U.S. interest rates from a top Fed official capped upside momentum.

for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $ 5.75 or 0.45%, to $ 1,262.31 a troy ounce.

Gold prices dipped at the start of European trade on Tuesday, as concerns about geopolitical uncertainty in Europe eased somewhat, following the release of the ICM poll for The Guardian, showing the Conservative Party held a healthy lead of 45% compared to Labour’s 33%, ahead of the general election scheduled for June 8.

Elsewhere in Europe, however, Eurozone finance ministers’ with the International Monetary Fund last week while the prospect of early elections in Italy limited losses in the previous metal.

Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi suggested on Sunday that the country’s next election be held at the same time as Germany’s election, September 24, adding to speculation that Italians could head to the polls in the autumn.

In the mid-afternoon U.S. session, investors parsed Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard’s comments that an interest rate hike is but reaction in gold prices were muted, as Brainard warned that the Fed may delay an interest rate hike should inflation continue to slow.

The , which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, dipped by 0.11% to 97.22.

According to investing.com’s over 80% of traders expect the Fed to hike its benchmark rate in June from 0.75-1% to 1-1.25%.

Gold is sensitive to moves higher in both U.S. rates and the dollar – A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of foreign currency while a rise in U.S. rates, lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.

In other precious metals, rose 0.47% to $ 17.41 a troy ounce while lost 2.31% to trade at $ 940.70.

added 0.04% to $ 2.567, while fell by 4.80% to $ 3.151.