By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Tuesday morning in Asia, during the previous session. The imminent interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve and a  near 20-year highs also dulled the yellow metal’s appeal.

By 12:41 PM ET (or 4:41 AM GMT), the price of $1,860.90 had fallen 0.14%

According to Michael McCarthy, chief strategy officer at Tiger Brokers in Australia, “gold will be under pressure from both higher interest rates as well as indirectly from a weaker U.S. Dollar,” Reuters was told by Michael McCarthy.

He said that there are some short-term risks to gold and that we have a range between $1,810 and $1,790.

While the normal movement of the dollar was in direct proportion to that of gold, the dollar fell but it still remained at near its 20-year peak. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yields climbed to 3% Monday for the first-time since December 2018, when they were at 3%.

Later in the day the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee meets. The central bank will likely raise interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday when it gives down its annual report. As it tightens its money policy and lowers high inflation, the Fed has increased its policy rate by 25 basis point in March 2022.

While the central banks will be releasing their policy decisions, other central banks also have to do so. The raised its interest rates to 0.35% earlier today, and will announce its policy decisions on Thursday.

The European Union plans to put sanctions on Russian oil exports, as the EU prepares to do so, this is in the wake of Russia’s February 24th invasion of Ukraine. The bloc’s decision came after Germany, which happens to be Russia’s biggest energy customer, had a change of heart that could rob Moscow of a large revenue stream within days.

The price of other precious metals was steady at $22.63 per an ounce. It was higher by 0.3% and grew by 1%, respectively.