Gold steady as traders wait for Fed chair to take center stage

Gold steadied ahead of commentary from the head of the US Federal Reserve that will provide clues on the trajectory of interest rates.

Chair Jerome Powell will testify before a Senate panel later on Tuesday and a US House of Representatives committee on Wednesday, at which he is expected to underscore that rates will go higher than policy makers had anticipated just a few weeks ago.

Higher rates, needed to quell stubbornly elevated inflation, are typically negative for non-interest bearing bullion.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,845.34 an ounce as of 8:52 a.m. in Singapore, after falling 0.5 per cent on Monday.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat, and 10-year US Treasury yields climbed toward 4 per cent.

Silver and platinum were steady, while palladium declined.

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