Gold prices eased toward $1,690 an ounce on Tuesday after breaching the key $1,700 level earlier in the session, weighed down by a firm dollar amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve will push ahead with its aggressive plan to stamp out high inflation. New York Fed Bank President John Williams said on Monday that US monetary tightening still has “significant ways to go” as interest rates have yet to reach restrictive levels for economic growth. Elsewhere, the European Central Bank is also expected to deliver another jumbo rate increase as euro zone inflation exceeded forecasts to hit a new record high of 10% in September. Meanwhile, the metal surged more than 2% on Monday to the highest levels in nearly three weeks as Treasury yields fell sharply and the dollar was knocked back by weaker-than-expected US manufacturing data which raised hopes that the US central bank may slow the pace of its rate increases.
