Gold traded flat of Friday and lingered within the latest trading range, amid growing confidence that an early 2024 interest rate drop by the Federal Reserve is unlikely to happen.

Although there were some gains anticipated for the yellow metal this week, they were mostly a reversal of the sharp losses experienced over the previous two weeks. Any significant increase in gold prices was nevertheless constrained by worries about longer-term interest rates rising, as well as by the relative strength of the currency and Treasury yields.

Spot gold edged up by 0.1% to $2,025.80 per ounce, while gold futures edged up by 0.2% to $2,035.15 per ounce. Th two were poised to gain 0.7% during the week following a dip of 4% in the previous couple of weeks.

The price range of $2,000 to $2,050 per ounce that has been observed for the majority of 2024 has also been maintained by bullion prices.

The market's continued pricing out of early Fed rate cuts was due to a number of signals, which kept the gold outlook gloomy.