Gold inches higher as inflation data looms, set for fourth monthly gain

Gold prices edged up on Friday and were on track for a fourth straight monthly gain, while investors awaited a key U.S. inflation reading that could provide further insights into the Federal Reserve's policy path.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.2% at $2,346.18 per ounce, as of 0141 GMT. Bullion prices are up 0.5% so far this week.


* U.S. gold futures rose 0.1% at $2,345.20.

* Gold prices have gained 2.7% so far this month after hitting a record high of $2,449.89 on May 20.

* Fed policymakers continue to expect inflation to fall this year even as the labor market stays strong, leaving them in no hurry to cut the policy rate from the 5.25%-5.5% range they have kept it in since last July.

* Investors are now awaiting the April reading on the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, due at 1230 GMT.

* Traders' bets signalled growing skepticism that the Fed will cut rates more than once in 2024, currently pricing in about a 64% chance of a rate cut by November, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

* Bullion is known as an inflation hedge, but higher rates increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.

* Russian mining and metals giant Nornickel lowered its forecast for the global nickel surplus this year, but said it expected a bigger global palladium deficit.

* Days after miner BHP launched its takeover bid for rival Anglo American in April, the CEOs of both headed for South Africa, where a condition to divest Anglo's local platinum and iron ore assets was causing a political storm.

* Spot silver fell 0.2% to $31.11 per ounce, platinum was down 0.2% at $1,022.70 and palladium lost 0.2% to $946.25.