Gold set for quarterly fall

Gold fell on Thursday and was bound for its worst quarter in five as the dollar's strength and a hawkish rhetoric from central banks eroded the appeal of the non-yielding asset, reports Reuters.
Spot gold fell 0.2 per cent to $1,813.30 per ounce by 0924 GMT, en route to post a more than 6.0 per cent fall for the quarter, and a third straight monthly fall. US gold futures dipped 0.1 per cent to $1,815.70.
"Gold is suffering because of the aggressive stance of central banks, especially the Federal Reserve, telegraphing their strong desire to control inflation regardless of the pain that may generate in the economy at large," said Ricardo Evangelista, a senior analyst with ActivTrades. Bringing down high inflation around the world will be painful and could even crash growth, but it must be done quickly to prevent rapid price growth from becoming entrenched, the world's top central bank chiefs said, when they gathered at the ECB's annual conference in Portugal.
Normally, gold tends to do well in times of high inflation, but investors will be worried about parking their capital in something that doesn't yield anything, Evangelista added. Reducing gold's appeal, the dollar index hovered near its recent two-decade peaks, and could record its best quarter in over five years, making greenback-priced gold more expensive for overseas buyers.