© Reuters
By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia. However, the yellow metal was set for a second consecutive weekly gain as the war in Ukraine and broadening inflationary pressures give the safe-haven metal a boost.
were down 0.52% to $1,974.45 by 1:10 AM ET (5:10 AM GMT), gaining about 1.7% so far in the week. Markets including the U.S., Australia, and Hong Kong will be closed on Friday for a holiday. The , which normally moves inversely to gold, was down on Thursday and eased off May 2020 highs.
The benchmark fell on Wednesday, following steady gains earlier in the month as investors bet that the U.S. Federal Reserve would aggressively tighten monetary policy to curb high inflation.
In Asia Pacific, the is expected to cut the one-year policy loans interest rate on Friday, its second time doing so in 2022 to date. PBOC is also expected to lower the reserve requirement ratio soon.
The hiked its interest rate to 1.5% as it handed down its latest policy decision. Investors now await the policy decision, due later in the day.
Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine, ongoing since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, continues. The U.S. on Wednesday said that it would send an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine, ahead of the widely expected Russian attack on the eastern part of the country.
Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust (P:) rose 1% to 1,104.42 tons on Wednesday. In other precious metals, was up 0.3%, edged up 0.2% and rose 1.8%.
