Gold hovered near $1,920 an ounce on Wednesday, remaining sideways for more than a week, as investors weighed hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials against geopolitical and economic uncertainties.
Fed officials pushed for a quick reduction in the central bank’s bloated balance sheet, with one of them expressing openness to bigger rate increases of half a percentage point.
The dollar scaled its highest in nearly two years following the comments, while US Treasury yields hit multi-year highs, denting gold’s appeal.
Meanwhile, the US and its allies were set on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Moscow over civilian killings in northern Ukraine, with the EU proposing to ban Russian coal and to prevent Russian ships from entering EU ports.
Britain also urged G7 and NATO countries to agree to a timetable to phase out oil and gas imports from Russia.