2021.09.0810:40:00UTC+00Gold Holds Steady Amid Growth Worries

Gold prices were flat to slightly higher on Wednesday as a broad index of emerging market shares and currencies fell on worries about slowing global growth.

Spot gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,797.43 in European trade, after having fallen to an over one-week low of $1,791.90 on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,799.45.

European stocks succumbed to selling pressure as rising cases of Delta variant of COVID-19 clouded the global economic outlook.

The likelihood of a slowing reopening of the economy along with reduced policy support from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank added to worries.

In an interview with the Financial Times, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said that the central bank should proceed with a plan to wind down stimulus measures this year and end by the first half of next year.

Bullard said that there is enough demand for workers and more job openings, which could pave the way for a strong labor market next year.

Investors now look ahead to Thursday's European Central Bank meeting that will see policymakers debate a cut in its stimulus.

Governing Council member and Austria's central bank chief Robert Holzmann told Eurofi Magazine that the ECB may normalize policy "sooner than most financial market experts expect."