Daily Digest Market Movers: Gold price continues to draw support from June Fed rate cut bets

The crucial US inflation data released on Friday keeps the door open for a June interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve and continues to drive flows towards the non-yielding Gold price.

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Friday that the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index rose 0.3% in February, and the yearly rate edged up to 2.5% from 2.4%.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core PCE Price Index – the Fed's preferred inflation gauge – rose by the 2.8% YoY rate as compared to January's upwardly revised reading of 2.9%.

Following the release, Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that the latest US inflation data is along the lines of what we would like to see, reaffirming bets for an imminent shift in the Fed's policy stance.

According to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, market participants are now pricing in around a 70% probability that the Fed will begin its rate-cutting cycle at the June monetary policy meeting.

Russia escalates attacks on Ukraine’s energy and other infrastructure in response to the recent Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on oil industry assets deep inside its territory.

Hamas says the Israeli military is committing a war crime by establishing so-called kill zones across the Gaza Strip where any approaching Palestinian may be shot and killed.

The global risk sentiment gets a boost from upbeat Chinese data released on Sunday, showing that business activity in the manufacturing sector expanded for the first time in six months.

This, along with a modest US Dollar uptick, might cap gains for the safe-haven precious metal as traders now look to the US ISM Manufacturing PMI for short-term impetus.