Gold sector stocks fell in morning trading

Gold sector stocks fell in morning trading，GOLD and RGLD shares tumbled nearly 3%,KGC shares dropped more than 4%.

Gold slumped below $1,800 an ounce as the Federal Reserve sped up its expected pace of policy tightening amid optimism about the labor market and heightened concerns over inflation.

The metal slipped to the lowest in six weeks on Thursday as the dollar continued to strengthen, the day after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would begin a discussion about scaling back bond purchases. It’s the first major hawkish turn from the central bank whose deluge of stimulus has been critical to bullion’s strong performance since the start of the pandemic.

The central bank also released forecasts that show it anticipates two interest-rate increases by the end of 2023 -- sooner than many thought -- which helped boost the dollar and U.S. bond yields, hurting gold. Bullion, which declined the most in five months on Wednesday, broke through a number of key technical support levels, including falling below its 100-day moving average.

“We have a negative outlook, expecting gold to fall to $1,600 an ounce over the next six to 12 months,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG. “At some point the Fed will not talk about taper but also implement it.”

Spot gold declined 1.7% to $1,780.97 an ounce as of 2:07 p.m. in London, after earlier dropping to $1,776.08, the lowest intraday level since May 5. Silver, platinum and palladium also declined. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.5% after rising 0.9% on Wednesday.