By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia, with the U.S. Federal Reserve signaling that asset tapering could begin within 2021 and that interest rate hikes could come sooner than expected as well.

By 11:48 ET (3:48 GMT), the price of gold had fallen 0.80% to $1764.65, or 0.80%. Although the, which moves in an opposite direction to gold, fell 0.80% on Thursday, it remained close to a one month high.

The Fed handed down on Wednesday and said that asset tapering could begin as soon as November. To combat rising inflation, it could raise interest rates by 2022.

The and will hand down their respective policy decisions later in the day.

In Asia Pacific, the kept its interest rate unchanged at -0.10% as it handed down its policy decision on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the region, China Evergrande Group (HK:) on Wednesday temporarily alleviated fears about an imminent market shock from its debt crisis. The reached an agreement to settle interest payments on a domestic bond, while the People’s Bank of China also injected cash into the banking system.

Investors anxiously wait to see if the company will be able to repay the $83.5million in interest due on an offshore bond and its other $300 billion liabilities.

Meanwhile, Russia produced 173.99 tons of gold between January and July, down from the 176.30 tons it produced in the same period in 2020, the county’s Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

Other precious metals saw silver fall 0.5%, while platinum fell 0.4%. Palladium fell 0.1%, to $2,020.96. However, prices increased 6.2% on Wednesday. This is the biggest single-day gain since March 2020.