2018.12.1406:10:00UTC+00Gold Drifts Lower As Dollar Moves Up

Gold prices are lower Friday morning, as the dollar moved up against most major currencies with traders looking ahead to next week's monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rate by 25 basis points, but contrary to earlier indications and expectations, the central bank is unlikely to keep hiking rates in the coming year.

The recent comments from the Fed Chair that interst rates in the U.S. are currently "just below" neutral and remarks by a couple of Fed officials that there could be a pause in rate hike sometime next year took some shine off the greenback in some of the recent sessions and pushed gold prices up a bit.

With a rate hike looking imminent next week and global equities plunging sharply on growth worries, the dollar has turned out to be the safe haven investment for traders.

The dollar index rose to 97.55 this morning, gaining about 0.5%.

Gold futures for February are down $4.70, or 0.37%, at 1,242.70 an ounce. On Thursday, gold futures $2.60, or 0.2%, at $1,247.40 an ounce.

Silver futures for March are down $0.152, or 1.02%, at $14.703 an ounce, while Copper futures are declining by $0.30, or 1.08%, at $2.737 per pound.