BENGALURU, April 26 (Reuters) - Gold prices on Thursday were
little changed after falling to their lowest in five weeks in
the previous session, pressured by a stronger dollar, which held
near more than three-month highs, and a rise in U.S. Treasury
yields.
Spot gold was up 0.05 percent at $1,323.66 per ounce
at 0351 GMT, after falling by as much as 0.9 percent to
$1,318.51 in the previous session, its lowest since March 21.
U.S. gold futures gained 0.1 percent $1,324.7 an ounce.
"Gold prices are lower because of the stronger dollar," said
Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong
Kong.
"At these low levels the market could now attract some
physical buying interest ... the market has a very good
(physical) support at around $1,310-$1,315 levels," he said.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback
against a basket of currencies, was steady at 91.148 after
rising to as much as 91.261 in the previous session, its highest
since Jan. 12.
"Contributing to this (fall in gold prices) was a rise in
the dollar and further increase in Treasury yields above 3
percent, which made holding the precious metal less attractive,"
ANZ Bank said in a note.
A stronger dollar makes bullion more expensive for holders
of other currencies, while higher bond yields dampen demand for
non-interest yielding bullion.
The benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year yield edged above 3
percent on Wednesday as jitters about growing federal borrowing
spurred more selling in the U.S. government bonds, paving the
path for it to visit levels not seen since July 2011.
A rise in Asian stocks also took some safe-haven demand away
from gold.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
bounced back from three-week lows plumbed the
previous day.
Markets are now awaiting the European Central Bank's
monetary policy decision due later in the day.
The ECB is set to keep policy unchanged on Thursday, playing
down worries over recent softness in the euro zone economy and
potentially ending its bond purchase scheme by the close of the
year.
In other precious metals, silver rose 0.4 percent to
$16.59 per ounce after falling over 1 percent in the previous
session.
Platinum was 0.6 percent higher at $911.10 per ounce.
The metal slid about 2.2 percent on Wednesday.
Palladium slipped 0.4 percent to $973.50 an ounce.
