KUWAIT: Gold prices rose one percent last Friday to stand at $1,658 per ounce amid expectations that US interest rate hikes will end "sharply" in the coming period. In a report, Kuwait Sabayik Company stated Sunday that gold prices rebounded from their monthly lows around $1,617 per ounce, with US Treasury bond yields declining after news of raising the interest rate that might cause excessive stress for the US economy.

The report said that the US Federal Reserve is expected to raise the interest rate by 75 basis points for the fourth time in a row at its next November meeting. Sabayik explained that gold received price support last week from the decline of the US dollar, following reports about the intervention of the Japanese authorities to support the yen, in addition to the decline in US Treasury bonds yields from their high levels.

Gold futures contracts for December delivery rose by 1.2 percent, equivalent of $19.50 to record $1,656 an ounce at the close, in parallel with the decline of the US currency index by 0.6 percent, recording 112.172 points. As for the local market, Al-Sabayik Company said that it witnessed an increase in purchases due to the decrease in gold prices. - KUNA