BENGALURU, May 10 (Reuters) - Gold traded sideways in a
tight range on Thursday as the dollar held firm near its 2018
peak on strong U.S. bond yields, with investors also keeping an
eye out for any further impact from U.S. President Donald
Trump's decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran.
Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $1,311.82 per ounce
by 0714 GMT.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery were 0.1 percent
lower at $1,312 per ounce.
"This time around I think the rising geopolitical tensions
in the Middle East added some safe-haven appeal to gold," said
Helen Lau, analyst at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong.
"A lot of counteracting forces are playing against gold so
that's why it's trading in a very tight range," Lau said, adding
that a firm dollar and rising U.S. Treasury yields were capping
upside.
Asian stocks rose on Thursday with energy shares leading the
way as crude oil prices bolted higher after U.S. President
Donald Trump's decision to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.
Dismayed European allies sought on Wednesday to salvage the
deal with Iran after Trump ordered sanctions be reimposed on
Tehran.
The dollar held firm on Thursday after the 10-year U.S. bond
yield rose back to the psychologically important 3 percent mark
and investors looked to U.S. consumer price (CPI) data due later
to show a acceleration in inflation.
The U.S. CPI data will also be scoured for outlook on the
Federal Reserve's interest rate hike path after
weaker-than-expected data earlier this month did little to
dampen expectations of a June interest rate hike.
Higher U.S. rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond
yields up, adding pressure on greenback-denominated,
non-yielding gold.
Elsewhere, investors are pushing back expectations for a
rise in euro zone interest rates further into 2019 against a
backdrop of soft economic data and disappointing inflation
numbers, money market pricing suggested.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.14 percent to 862.95
tonnes on Wednesday.
Spot gold looks neutral in a range of $1,302-$1,317 per
ounce, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Meanwhile, in other precious metals, silver was 0.1
percent higher at $16.49 an ounce, after hitting a two-week high
at $16.62 in the previous session.
Platinum rose 0.1 percent to $910.74 an ounce while
palladium remained unchanged at $974.75.
