Gold prices fell on December 12 morning, trading just below $1,800 a troy ounce, Report informs referring to the auction data.

The strengthening of the dollar holds back the price of the precious metal.

The price of February futures for gold on the New York Comex exchange fell by $11.7, or 0.65%, to $1,799 per troy ounce. March silver futures fell 0.77% to $23.535 an ounce.

The dollar index (the exchange rate against a basket of currencies of six US trading partners) rose by 0.28% to 105.11 points. A stronger dollar makes gold less affordable to buy in another currency.

A number of important events for the markets are planned for the current week. The data on annual inflation in the US for November will be revealed on December 13. Markets are waiting for another slowdown in the growth of consumer prices in the country, to 7.3% from 7.7% in October. At the same time, the value remains well above the target 2%.

The meeting of the US Federal Reserve System (FRS) is scheduled for December 13-14, following its results, the regulator will make a decision on the rate, update macroeconomic forecasts, and then Central Bank Chairman Jerome Powell will speak. Markets broadly expect a 50-basis point rate hike to 4.25-4.5%, weaker than the previous four 75 basis point hikes.

Gold is sensitive to macro statistics from the US and the Fed’s monetary policy signals, which affects the dollar exchange rate, and this in turn affects gold. Traditionally "hawkish" sentiment supports the dollar, which is negative for gold.