Gold prices hit a near seven-month trough on Wednesday as a stronger dollar and increasing rate-hike bets dented the zero-yielding bullion’s appeal.

Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,760.90 per ounce, after falling as much as 2.6% on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures were down 0.3% to $1,759.00.

The rival safe-haven dollar climbed to a near two-decade peak, making greenback priced-bullion less attractive among overseas buyers. “With the Fed still expected to hike rates aggressively at the coming meetings, expect gold to stay under pressure in the near term,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, adding, gold could trade down to $1,700/oz by year-end.

Bullion has faced the heat of rising global interest rates and treasury yield, which increase the opportunity cost of holding the yellow metal. There are signs of bargain hunting below $1,800 but gold may struggle to recover in the near term unless momentum has dissipated from the dollar, StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell said.
Investors now await the 2 p.m. ET release of the minutes from the U.S. central bank’s June 14-15 meeting and U.S. payroll data on Friday for signs on the health of the economy.

While hawkish FOMC views are already baked into the markets, the jobs data and its sub-components would be interesting to look out for, O’Connell added.

More major central banks raised rates in June than in any month for at least two decades, Reuters calculations showed, and with inflation at multi-decade highs, policy-tightening is unlikely to let up this year. Meanwhile, top gold consumer China witnessed nascent COVID-19 flare-ups across the country. \

Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.2% to $19.15 per ounce, platinum dropped 0.9% to $857.71.
Palladium rose 0.8% to $1,947.82.