PRECIOUS-Gold struggles for direction with Fed minutes on the radar

* U.S. Fed minutes due at 1800 GMT

* Jackson Hole Symposium on Aug. 25-27

* UK inflation leaps into double digits, highest since 1982

(Recasts, adds details and updates prices)

By Arundhati Sarkar

Aug 17 (Reuters) – Gold prices were little changed on
Wednesday, with gains curbed by a firmer dollar, while investors
braced for any guidance on future U.S. interest rate hikes from
the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.

Spot gold

Gold is struggling to find a clear direction, and so the
Fed’s minutes could represent a significant market driver, with
the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole Symposium getting closer,
said Carlo Alberto De Casa, external analyst for Kinesis Money.

“Inflation has given some signal that we could have reached
the peak, but before seeing any further rebound in gold,
investors will probably need some dovish signal from the Fed,”
he added.

The Fed has raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by
225 basis points (bps) in total since March to tame high
inflation. Traders are pricing in a 50 or 75 bp rate hike at its
September meeting

Recent hawkish remarks from Fed policymakers has led to a
pullback in gold prices from the key $1,800 level, despite signs
of easing inflation.

Rising U.S. interest rates increase the opportunity cost of
holding non-yielding bullion.

However, StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell said: “the Empire
State Manufacturing figures which were dreadful, argue for a
more benign rate hike than last time,” and that supports gold as
it thrives on uncertainty.

“The Fed has dropped its previous policy of guidance so the
minutes, which are three weeks out of date, will only really
give us a backdrop,” O’Connell said, adding the market will,
however, be waiting to read between the lines.

The dollar

Meanwhile, data showed British consumer price inflation
jumped to 10.1% in July, its highest since 1982.

Spot silver

Palladium

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru
Editing by Mark Potter)
((Arundhati.Sarkar@thomsonreuters.com;
twitter.com/Arundhati_05; +1 646 223 8780 Ext: 2776))

Keywords: GLOBAL PRECIOUS/ (UPDATE 4, PIX)

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