Gold climbed back above $4,400 an ounce on Wednesday, snapping a three-session losing streak as a weaker dollar made the metal cheaper for buyers holding other currencies. Spot gold rose 1.1% to $4,402.41 an ounce, while gold futures added a smaller 0.2% to settle near $4,445.85.
The move came as the U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.2% to 98.70. Other precious metals rose in tandem: spot silver gained 1.5% to $66.76 an ounce, and platinum climbed 1.6% to $1,848.23. Traders were weighing a mix of crosscurrents, including this week's inflation data and continued tension in the Middle East, both of which have kept safe-haven demand elevated even as higher Treasury yields work in the opposite direction.
Behind the day-to-day price swings, a steadier force has underpinned gold for much of the year: central banks. The World Gold Council's latest Gold Demand Trends report found that central banks added 289 tonnes to their reserves in the second quarter of 2026, five times the revised first-quarter total and the strongest second quarter on record. That was 62% higher than the same period a year earlier. Poland's central bank was the biggest buyer at 51 tonnes, followed by China's at 33 tonnes — its largest quarterly addition since late 2023 — with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jordan and the Czech Republic also adding to reserves.
The buying has continued even as gold has traded at historically rich levels; the World Gold Council put the average LBMA gold price in the second quarter at roughly $4,506 an ounce, 37% above where it stood a year earlier. Central banks have described the accumulation as a multi-year shift toward diversifying reserves away from the dollar and other foreign currencies, rather than a short-term trade tied to any single catalyst.
That structural demand is now running up against a more uncertain near-term picture. Rising Treasury yields and unresolved questions over whether the Federal Reserve will hold or shift interest rates at its September 15-16 meeting have made bullion's path choppier, even as geopolitical risk keeps a floor under prices. Friday's August consumer price index report, the last significant inflation data point before that meeting, is likely to be the next major catalyst for gold traders parsing whether the metal's rally has further to run.
