World gold prices fluctuated around the two-week high in the first trading session of the week, after recording the first week of increase since the end of May. The market is currently shifting its attention to new signals about US monetary policy and the diễn biến of the USD.
As of 10:35 am Vietnam time, spot gold price decreased by 0.22% to 4,165.94 USD/ounce. Meanwhile, August gold futures contracts increased by 1.32%, to 4,180.76 USD/ounce.
Previously, the gold market closed the trading week with an increase of more than 2%, ending a four-week consecutive decline. This is also the first week of increase for the precious metal since the end of May.
After US economic data was released last week, market expectations for the US Federal Reserve (Fed)'s interest rate roadmap continued to adjust. According to the CME FedWatch tool, the probability of the Fed raising interest rates at the September meeting is currently around 55%, down from over 60% before the jobs report was released.
Meanwhile, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index almost went sideways in the first session of the week after falling about 0.3% last week. The diễn biến of the USD continues to be one of the factors the market is monitoring this week.
In the energy market, oil prices continue to trade in lower areas than during the previous period of geopolitical tensions. According to market data, ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has improved in recent days. Along with that, OPEC+ is signaling to increase production in the coming months.
This week, the focus of market attention will be the minutes of the monetary policy meeting on June 16-17 of the Fed, expected to be released in the middle of the week. This is considered one of the important data for investors to have more basis to assess the monetary policy outlook of the US in the coming months.
In the latest report of the Global Investment Office (CIO), UBS continues to forecast that gold prices could reach about 5,200 USD/ounce in the next 12 months. UBS's report said that this forecast is based on the gold buying demand of central banks, the trend of reserve asset diversification and the monetary policy outlook of the Fed.
On the precious metals market, silver prices increased by 1.1% to 63.12 USD/ounce. Platinum and palladium prices also recorded upward movements in the first trading session of the week.
