Gold falls as US dollar, yields rise on hawkish Fed comments

Gold slipped on Wednesday as the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields advanced after hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials hinted at continuing aggressive interest rate hikes in the near term.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,757.08 per ounce, as of 0105 GMT, after hitting a near one-month high of $1,787.79 on Tuesday.


* U.S. gold futures dropped 0.9% to $1,772.80 per ounce.

* The dollar was up 0.1% against its rivals after rising 0.8% overnight, making greenback-denominated gold more expensive for other currency holders.

* Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rallied to 2.7740%, after hitting a four-month low of 2.5160 on Tuesday.

* A trio of Fed officials from across the policy spectrum signaled they and their colleagues remain "completely united" on getting U.S. interest rates up to a level that will more significantly curb economic activity and put a dent in the highest inflation since the 1980s.

* St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said if inflation does not respond to the Fed's interest rate increases by easing as expected, then rates will have to remain "higher for longer".

* Traders now see a chance of about 44% that the Fed will hike rates by another 75 basis points at its next meeting in September.

* Although gold is considered a hedge against inflation, rising U.S. interest rates reduce the appeal of non-yielding bullion.

* SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.3% to 1,002.97 tonnes on Tuesday from 1,005.87 tonnes on Monday.

* The Biden administration wants to keep tensions between Washington and Beijing inflamed by a high level visit to Taiwan from boiling over into a conflict, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

* Spot silver fell 0.7% to $19.81 per ounce, platinum was down 0.3% at $891.32, and palladium eased 0.1% to $2,061.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0130 Australia Retail Trade Q2

0145 China Caixin Services PMI July

0500 India S&P Global Svcs PMI July

0750 France S&P Global Serv, Comp PMIs July

0755 Germany S&P Global Services PMI July

0755 Germany S&P Global Comp Final PMI July

0800 EU S&P Global Serv, Comp Final PMIs July

0830 UK Composite PMI Final July

0830 UK Reserve Assets Total July

1345 US S&P Global Serv, Comp Final PMIs July

1400 US Factory Orders MM June

1400 US ISM N-Mfg PMI July