Investing.com– Gold prices rose in Asian trade on Wednesday, but stuck to a range seen for nearly two weeks amid continued speculation over when the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates.
Among industrial metals, copper prices hit a near one-month low, wiping out most of a run to record highs through May, amid growing concerns over slowing global economic growth.
Gold saw some respite as the sank to two-month lows this week. But the greenback staged a mild recovery on Wednesday.
rose 0.4% to $2,337.35 an ounce, while expiring in August rose 0.4% to $2,357.05 an ounce by 00:46 ET (04:46 GMT). But spot gold remained squarely within a $2,300 to $2,350 an ounce range seen for nearly two weeks, a range it entered after tumbling from record highs hit in May.
Gold rangebound amid rate cut speculation
Traders remained wary of betting big on the yellow metal, even as a batch of weak U.S. economic data fueled increased speculation that the Fed will begin cutting rates in September.
Weak data on Tuesday added to this notion, coming just days after weak data and a downgraded reading.
The showed traders steadily increasing their bets on a September rate cut.
But markets were still cautious, with data due on Friday set to provide more definitive cues on the labor market.
The Fed is also , and is widely expected to keep rates steady amid sticky U.S. inflation.
Other precious metals were also volatile on Wednesday. fell 0.2% to $995.50 an ounce, while rose 0.8% to $29.863 an ounce, after both metals clocked steep losses on Tuesday.
Copper near 1-mth low as economic outlook sours
Benchmark on the London Metal Exchange rose slightly to $9,975.50 a tonne, while one-month rose to $4.5497 a pound.
Both contracts were close to their weakest levels in a month, after largely wiping out all of their gains in May, when they had briefly hit record highs.
Sentiment towards copper soured as middling economic readings from the U.S. and China raised concerns over slowing global growth, which bodes poorly for copper demand.