Gold falls to one-month low as hawkish Fed boosts dollar

By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri

(Reuters) - Gold fell to its lowest in a month on Friday on a strong dollar, which gained after the U.S. Federal Reserve reaffirmed its monetary tightening stance, seen as a negative for non-yielding bullion.

The Fed held interest rates steady on Thursday but is widely expected to raise interest rates in December - which would be its fourth hike this year - as it pointed to a healthy economy that was marred only by a dip in the growth of business investment.

Spot gold was down 1 percent at $1,211.04 per ounce at 10:31 a.m. EST (1531 GMT), having touched its lowest since Oct. 11 at $1,208.83. It was on track to end the week more than 1.7 percent lower, the steepest weekly decline since the week of Aug. 17.

U.S. gold futures fell over 1 percent to $1,212.20 per ounce.

"The Fed's announcement caused the dollar to strengthen and the outlook for higher U.S. interest rates has gold on the defense," said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.

Higher interest rates would be bullish for the dollar because investors from other parts of the world would rather convert local currencies to the greenback versus going into gold, he added.

The dollar index, a gauge of its performance against six major peers, was steady after touching a one-week high at 96.916, not far from a 16-month high of 97.2 it hit on Oct. 31. [USD/]

Also weighing on overall commodity market sentiment, was a decline in oil prices, with benchmark Brent crude falling to its lowest since early April.

Silver dropped 1.7 percent to $14.17 per ounce, having touched its lowest since Sept. 18. The metal was headed for its worst week since February.

"Gold leads the way in the metal market, with gold down 1 percent, it would be pretty hard for silver or platinum or palladium to rally," Haberkorn said.

Platinum fell more than 1.5 percent to $851.05 an ounce, while palladium fell nearly 1 percent to $1,113.97 per ounce.

(Reporting by Karthika Suresh Namboothiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Thomas)