Despite its decline in the closing session of January today, Tuesday, by more than 1%, and trading at levels of $1903 an ounce, the yellow metal is heading to record monthly gains exceeding 5% in January, in gains for the third month in a row, amid anticipation in the markets for the US Federal Reserve meeting tomorrow, Wednesday.

Gold has benefited since the beginning of the year from market expectations that the US Federal Reserve will slow down the pace of tightening monetary policy and raise interest rates less and stop before the middle of the year with inflation retreating from peak levels because it reduces the opportunity cost of owning bullion.

The declines of the US dollar general index by more than 1% in January and more than 3% from its highest level in January supported the declines of the yellow metal due to the inverse relationship between gold and the dollar, in addition to the declines in US bond yields.

On a related note, the World Gold Council report, issued this morning, showed that central banks added 1,136 tons of gold, worth $70 billion, to their stocks in 2022, at the largest rate since 1967, of which 417 tons were in the fourth quarter.

The report indicated that India’s consumption of gold in 2022 decreased by 3% compared to 2021, with the increase in local prices.

The attention of markets and traders is directed to the meeting of the largest central bank in the world, the US Federal Bank, which will meet for the first time this year tomorrow, next Wednesday, to discuss developments in monetary policy and interest levels, as expectations indicate that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 25 basis points to reach 4.75%. .

Silver, in turn, is trading at levels of $23.10 an ounce, down by about 2.00%, heading to record losses of more than 4% in January.

Platinum is down by 1.42%, when it is trading at $994, and palladium is down by 1.44%, when it is trading at $1,614.