E Fund Gold Mining ETF (02824) extended its rally, climbing more than 2% in Thursday's trading session. At the time of writing, the fund was up 1.11% at HK$11.88, with trading turnover reaching HK$1.2678 million.
Market sentiment was bolstered by comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who indicated on Thursday that he would prefer to hold interest rates steady as long as U.S. inflation continues to moderate. This relatively dovish remarks triggered a broad uptick in U.S. Treasury prices during Thursday's session.
Waller noted that he is "finally seeing signs of inflation slowing" and suggested that if data over the next two weeks continues to show cooling price pressures, he would support keeping rates unchanged in September. Following his comments, market expectations for a September rate hike fell back to 50%.
It is worth noting that ahead of the September FOMC meeting, Fed officials have been making appearances throughout the week, with signals swinging sharply from hawkish to dovish, causing significant volatility in market expectations. Industry analysts suggest that with the growing chorus of dovish voices within the Fed, the market's previously overpriced rate hike expectations—which had peaked at 66%—are now reverting toward the mean.
If employment and inflation data over the next two weeks align favorably, rate hike expectations could fade further, potentially pushing U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar lower in tandem. This would open a window for gold to stage a phased recovery.
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