Gold Hits 3.5-Month High

Gold hit its highest in 3-1/2 months on Friday as the dollar hit a one-week low after the new US finance chief poured cold water on the “Trumpflation trade” that had boosted the greenback this year.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that any steps President Donald Trump’s administration takes on policy would probably have only limited impact this year, though he wants to see tax reform passed by August, Reuters reported.

The comments suggested much work was still needed on the sweeping tax plan that Mnuchin called his main priority, and which investors had bet would stoke growth and inflation this year.

“We have got a vacuum of (US domestic) policy, real (interest) rates going down, the dollar going sideways and geopolitical (jitters) around the world ... all helping gold,” ICBC Standard Bank analyst Tom Kendall said.

Spot gold had risen 0.29% to $1,253.53 per ounce, having touched its highest since Nov. 11 at $1,260.10 earlier, zeroing in on the 200-day moving average. US gold futures rose 0.24% to $1,254.40. Tempering gains in bullion, a poll on Friday suggested French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron would beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who has promised a referendum on EU membership.

Still, the precious metal was supported by tempered expectations of a US rate hike in March after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting struck a less hawkish note than expected.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.