By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia, with countering safe-haven demand from the ongoing war in Ukraine and its potential impact on the global economy.

The slipped 0.13% to $1953 at 1:08 AM ET (5:00 AM GMT). On Thursday, the, which moves in an opposite direction to gold, slipped slightly.

Benchmark fell from their three-year peak on Wednesday and are back in an uptrend. U.S. bonds yields rose in anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve increasing interest rates aggressively.

Now investors are awaiting comments from Jerome Powell, Fed Chairman and Christine Lagarde (European Central Bank President), who will be speaking at an International Monetary Fund Event later that day. Andrew Bailey, Bank of England Governor, will talk a few days later.

Brian Lan, GoldSilver Central’s managing director, stated to Reuters that “as the critical $2,000 level wasn’t broken”, people had probably decided to profit… and move money out to equities (or even short-term treasury bill funds).”

Lan stated that Gold will be consolidating in the short term, and it is currently at approximately $1,940-$1,960 a ounce.

The yellow metal was near the $2,000 mark in week one, as concerns over the war in Ukraine prompted by Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, and rising inflationary forces giving the asset a boost.

At the moment, the main driver of gold’s market is geopolitical risks and inflation pressure. A Fed rate increase of 75 bps may be a price-distorting move, but higher inflation from supply shocks might mitigate its negative effects,” ANZ Research analysts stated in a note.

The price of other precious metals was also down 0.4%. It edged down 0.2% while it was stable at $986.86.