* China's central bank stepped up gold purchases in July<\/p>\n
* Iran ties Hormuz reopening to US concessions on several demands (Adds closing prices)<\/p>\n
Aug 10 (Reuters) – Gold rose to a nine-week peak on Monday as bullish momentum and fear of missing out propelled prices forward, while investors awaited key U.S. inflation data to gauge the Federal Reserve's policy moves.<\/p>\n
Spot gold rose 0.8% to $4,376.56 per ounce by 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT). It hit its highest level since June 5 earlier in the session. Prices logged a 2.4% gain on Friday, with labor department data showing an unexpected drop in U.S. nonfarm payrolls.<\/p>\n
U.S. gold futures added about 0.5% to settle at $4,419.70.<\/p>\n
"The technical momentum right now is pretty strong for gold overall," said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at StoneX.<\/p>\n
"It's cautious trading, with China buying, and the July CPI and PPI report this week, and kind of a fear of missing out on a move back over 4,500 for the time being."<\/p>\n
China's central bank stepped up gold purchases in July, adding the most bullion to its reserves since October 2023, official data showed last week.<\/p>\n
Investors await the U.S. consumer price data due on Wednesday and producer price data on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters expect the July CPI to have risen 3.4% year-on-year, versus 3.5% in June.<\/p>\n
"The CPI data is going to be important. Inflation is starting to cool a little bit, with markets expecting a report that's not going to be hot on inflation, and will lead to gold trading sideways to higher in the near term," said Jim Wyckoff, a market analyst at American Gold Exchange.<\/p>\n
Traders are pricing in a 52% chance of a rate hike in September and an 81% chance in December, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.<\/p>\n
Bullion is generally less attractive in high-interest-rate environments because of its non-yielding characteristic. Meanwhile, Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz, but repeated that the U.S. must meet other conditions before the strategic waterway is reopened.<\/p>\n
Among other metals, spot silver rose 3.1% to $65.50 per ounce, platinum added 0.1% to $1,746.50, and palladium firmed 0.2% to $1,380.17.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Sukanya Mitra, Vedika Thorat, and Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Keith Weir and Aurora Ellis)<\/p>\n
Catch all the Business News , Market News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.<\/p>\n