FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,752.66 an ounce, at 0016 GMT. US gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,751.80.
* The dollar index rose 0.3%.
* Most market participants are pricing in a 50 basis point interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s December meeting after minutes from the U.S. central bank’s latest policy meeting signaled a slower pace of rate hikes.
* Falling interest rates make gold attractive relative to interest-earning assets while weighing on the dollar.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.2% to 908.96 tonnes on Friday from 906.93 tonnes on Wednesday.
* Hundreds of protesters and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday evening as protests against China’s strict COVID restrictions erupted for a third day and spread to several cities following a deadly fire in the extreme west of the country.
* Ghana has ordered all major mining companies to sell 20% of all their stock of refined gold at their refineries to the Bank of Ghana from January 1, 2023, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said on Friday on Facebook.
* Spot silver slid 1.3% to $21.31, platinum fell 0.4% to $976.28 and palladium fell 0.6% to $1,840.97.
