Gold dips on steady dollar, U.S. interest rate outlook

By Eileen Soreng

(Reuters) - Gold prices edged lower for the fifth straight session on Thursday as the dollar was bolstered by minutes of the last U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that showed policymakers backed further interest rate hikes.

"The high interest rate environment would be key driver that would drive gold prices lower," said OCBC analyst Barnabas Gan.

"Since gold remains a zero yielding asset, higher interest rate environment could stimulate risk appetite and yield-chasing behaviour," said Gan, whose year-end outlook for gold is at $1,100.

Spot gold was down 0.2 at $1,321.38 an ounce at 0822 GMT, after touching an over one week low of $1,320.61 earlier in the session. The precious metal has fallen about 2 percent so far this week.

U.S. gold futures were down 0.6 percent at $1,324.30 per ounce.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.2 percent at 90.160, after it touched a peak of 90.235 since Feb. 12.

The greenback, which has risen over a percent so far this week, got a cushion as minutes of the Fed's January meeting showed most policymakers believed inflation would perk up.

However, some analysts said concerns about rising inflation may be tempered by caution due to the recent market volatility.

The opposing forces of higher inflation, which is good for the bullion, and higher interest rates should neutralize each other and keep gold price pretty steady, said Dominic Schnider at UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong.

Spot gold is expected to test a support at $1,316 per ounce, a break below which could cause a loss to the next support at $1,303, according to Reuters technical analyst, Wang Tao.

"The key level of $1,360 an ounce is likely to keep prices capped and act as a supply zone," said Sugandha Sachdeva, vice president of metals, energy and currency research at Religare Securities Ltd.

"As long as this is not taken out convincingly, gold prices may consolidate in near term, with major support in sight at $1,309 an ounce."

Among other precious metals, silver fell 0.4 percent to $16.43 an ounce, while palladium was down 0.1 percent at $1,019.50 per ounce and platinum was down 0.5 percent at $982.50, its lowest since Feb. 14.

(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru, Editing by Richard Pullin and Vyas Mohan)