FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,839.61 per ounce by 0055 GMT. Prices scaled their highest in more than a week in the previous session. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.1% to $1,841.50.
* U.S. consumer prices rose moderately in January as higher gasoline prices were blunted by a slump in airline fares amid a relentless pandemic, tempering expectations for a sustained acceleration in inflation this year.
* Gold is considered a hedge against inflation.
* Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields tumbled to a one-week low on Wednesday, while the dollar slipped to two-week lows after the tepid U.S. inflation data.
* U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday called for a broad national effort to get Americans back to work after the pandemic.
* India’s gold imports in January surged 72% from a year earlier, a government source said on Wednesday, as a correction in prices from a record high drew retail buyers and jewellers.
* Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust fell 0.15% to 1,146.60 tonnes on Wednesday.
* Platinum and palladium used by the auto industry to filter emissions from engine exhausts were all in short supply last year, data from specialist materials firm Johnson Matthey showed on Wednesday.
* Platinum fell 1.2% to $1,227.08 an ounce, having hit its highest since February 2015 at $1,250 on Wednesday as hopes firmed that an economic recovery would boost auto sales.
* CME Group Inc raised margins for NYMEX platinum futures by 10% to their highest since March 2020.
* Spot silver shed 0.4% to $26.89 and palladium eased 0.2% to $2,351.24.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 1330 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly
