Gold eases as dollar halts slide, focus on Jackson Hole

By Brijesh Patel

(Reuters) - Gold retreated below $1,800 on Wednesday as the dollar halted its slide while investors sought cues on the timeline of monetary tapering from the U.S. Federal Reserve's symposium this week.

Spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,793.80 per ounce by 1150 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.7% at $1,795.60.

Gold jumped 1.4% on Monday to the highest in nearly three weeks, driven by a broad retreat in the dollar this week.

"We're seeing a slight recovery in the dollar and also some investors taking out profits after big gains," said Carlo Alberto De Casa, market analyst at Kinesis.

"The main market driver for this week is the Jackson Hole symposium. A few days back, people were strongly expecting the Fed to start tapering before the end of the year, now that's again a question mark."

The dollar steadied off a one-week low, limiting appetite for bullion from those holding other currencies. [USD/] [MKTS/GLOB] [.EU]

Powell's speech at the Fed's symposium in Wyoming on Aug. 27, which had to be moved online because of virus-related concerns, could shed more light on the timeline for withdrawing stimulus, with some still betting on a less dovish stance.

"Everyone is willing to take a punt that they're (the Fed)going to maybe take a softer stance to tapering this weekend, and it's a good thing for gold," IG Market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

Some investors view gold as a hedge against higher inflation that could follow stimulus measures.

Silver eased 0.5% to $23.71 per ounce, while palladium shed nearly 1% to $2,450.14

Platinum fell 1.6% to $994.96. It has fallen more than 6% this year.

"A supply surplus is looming on the platinum market this year because of the weaker investment demand - the first in three years," Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note.

 

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and Barbara Lewis)