Gold, dollar hold steady as cryptocurrencies rise

WORLD CAPITALS (WAM)

Gold ​held steady on Wednesday after scaling a more than three-month high ‌in the previous session, as investors awaited a key US inflation report to gauge the Federal Reserve's interest-rate path.

Spot gold was little changed at $4,652.39 per ounce, as of 0150 ​GMT. Prices climbed to their highest since mid-May on Tuesday after last ​week's sharp gains following the US Treasury's bond buyback announcement.

US gold futures were up 0.3 percent at $4,709.20.

In other metals, spot silver gained 0.7 percent to $69.09, platinum rose 0.6 percent to $1,869.22, and ​palladium firmed 1.4 percent to $1,345.30.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, snapped a three-day winning streak on Tuesday, ​and was holding steady at 98.918 in early Asian trading.

The Australian dollar was up 0.1 percent at $0.7172 after the release of data showing the trimmed mean CPI inflation measure rose at an annualised rate ​of 3.6 percent.

Its kiwi counterpart was down 0.2 percent at $0.5962 ahead of an interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand ​next Wednesday.

However, the ‌US dollar weakened 0.1 percent against the Canadian dollar to C$1.38405 per dollar. The euro was flat at $1.1675, while the British pound ​was also unchanged at $1.3647.

The yen ​was steady at 159.14 yen, remaining firmly below levels that triggered joint intervention by US and Japanese officials in the past month.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was up 0.8 percent at $78,829.03, while ether was up 0.7 percent at $2,453.10. So far this month, they are up ​25 percent and 31 percent, respectively.