By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was up on Thursday morning in Asia, after tumbling to a seven-week trough during the previous session, but rising U.S. Treasury yields continued to apply pressure.

The price of gold gained 0.4% to $1.731.35, at 12:28 ET (4:28 GMT). It recovered some losses from Wednesday’s plunge to $1.720.49. This is its lowest point since August 9. Benchmark also climbed and held above 1.5%, a level not seen since late June 2021.

“Gold is consolidating before maybe another major leg lower,” DailyFX currency strategist Ilya Spivak told Reuters, pointing to the Fed’s move towards asset tapering and a steeper interest rate hike cycle than markets initially expected.

“While there are ample risks that could help gold break higher, like weaker economic data or the Evergrande debt crisis potentially spilling over into other economies, these are unlikely to provide lasting support.”

A break below $1,700 could see gold test the $1,675 to $1,680 level, said Spivak.

At Wednesday’s ECB forum, central bank chiefs, such as Jerome Powell (US Federal Reserve Chairman) and Christine Lagarde (ECB president), spoke alongside Andrew Bailey and Haruhikokuroda (Bank of England and Bank of Japan governors). While they monitor inflation closely, the central bank heads were optimistic that this phenomenon would be short-term.

In Asia Pacific, China released showed that September’s purchasing managers index (PMI) was at a lower-than-expected 49.6. However, the PMI and the were at a better-than-expected 53.2 and 50 respectively.

Other precious metals saw silver rise 0.2%, platinum gain 0.6%, and palladium climb 0.7%.