Sharjah 24 – WAM: On the final trading day of 2022, spot gold was up 0.2% to $1,818.70 an ounce by 2:17pm, while US gold futures were flat at $1,826.2, according to Reuters.
Gold prices moved higher on Friday as the non-producing metal is on track to finish its best quarter since June 2020 on US Fed expectations of minor interest rate hikes following a decline from highs record earlier this year.
Bullion fell only about 0.5% in 2022 as consecutive rate hikes by the US central bank pushed gold to a more than two-year low in September, but prices have since reduced losses.
The reaction of global central banks to rising inflation will shape market sentiment through 2023, according to economists quoted by Reuters.
