Golden heads for best week since April amid Fed pause expectations

June 2 (Reuters) – The price of gold could post its biggest weekly gain since early April, bolstered by hopes the US Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates at its June meeting. This prospect also put pressure on the dollar and bond yields.

By 1:40 p.m. Moscow time, the gold spot price rose a symbolic 0.11% to $1.980 per troy ounce, but the precious metal could rise 1.7% in a week – its best weekly result since April 7.

With the uncertainty over the US debt ceiling gone, investors are taking a break to see what happens to the non-farm payrolls data, said Ricardo Evangelista of ActivTrades.

Employment data will be published at 15:30 Moscow time.

The dollar index and 10-year Treasury yields may have posted their worst weekly performance since mid-March, which in turn supported the appeal of gold as a zero-yield asset.

According to Edward Meir, an analyst at Marex, gold prices may increase slightly as the Fed is expected to maintain its easing policy in June.

US regulators should not raise interest rates at the next meeting, Philadelphia Fed chairman Patrick Harker said on Thursday.

Gold, which is under pressure from higher rates, found support as markets lowered expectations for a Fed rate hike in June to 27% from 64% a week earlier.

They now bet on a 73 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged in June.

“But if today’s jobs report brings positive surprises, we should expect gold prices to fall,” Evangelista said.

Silver gained 0.22% to $23.94 an ounce and is likely to show a weekly gain as well.

Palladium was up 0.76% to $1,405.39 an ounce while platinum held at $1,006.86, both metals headed for weekly losses.

The original message in English is available under the code: (Deep Vakil and Arundhati Sarkar)