Gold prices rose slightly in Asian trade on Friday, extending a push above key levels after dovish signals from the Federal Reserve sparked steep losses in the dollar and Treasury yields.

The yellow metal rebounded from recent losses this week after the Fed said it was done raising interest rates, and will consider deeper interest rate cuts in 2024. The Fed’s comments saw markets pricing in at least three rate cuts by the central bank, with the first one coming as soon as March 2024.

The dollar fell to a two-week low against the euro and a more than four-month low against the Japanese yen in a broad based selloff on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated that rate cuts are likely next year.

The euro and pound, meanwhile, were supported by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England affirming the need to hold rates higher for longer.

 In a recent analysis, renowned crypto analyst sounded the alarm as slipped below a critical supply zone, ranging from $41,200 to $42,400.

Martinez, utilizing on-chain data from IntoTheBlock, highlighted that 1.87 million addresses, holding a substantial 730,000 BTC, were accumulated in this precarious territory.

Gold prices touched an all-time high on Monday, but later pared back some of these gains, as traders bet on the potential for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next year. 

By 07:26 ET (12:26 GMT), spot gold was mostly unchanged at $2,071.29 a troy ounce, retreating slightly from an earlier rally that had lifted the typical safe haven asset to a record $2,135 per troy ounce. Gold posted strong gains last week, and also rose for a second consecutive month in November.

Oil prices fell Monday, adding to last week’s losses on doubts over the extent of the output cuts by a group of top producers as well as concerns over weakening global demand. 

By 09:15 ET (14.15 GMT), the U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% lower at $73.45 a barrel and the Brent contract dropped 0.8% to $78.28 a barrel. 

The dollar ticked higher on Monday, regaining some ground after falling for three straight weeks on bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon be cutting interest rates, while bitcoin breached $42,000 for the first time since early 2022.

The dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major peers, rose by 0.59% to 103.71, while the euro was last down 0.61% to $1.0815.

Bitcoin rose on Monday, briefly surpassing $42,000 to reach a 20-month high, in a new surge of momentum fueled by the possibility of U.S. interest rate cuts and traders betting that the U.S. will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency rose as high as $42,162 on Monday, its highest since April 2022, seemingly casting off the funk that had settled over crypto markets following the collapse of FTX and other crypto-business failures last year. It was up 6.49% at $41,311.26 as of 1605 GMT.

President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele has taken to Twitter to share the recent news of the progress the country has been making after making the flagship its national currency.

Bukele proudly stated that the country’s investments in Bitcoin have made all the media that ridiculed this decision fall silent. Not only will El Salvador be able to cover all the funds it invested in BTC, it would also make a few million USD on top of that, should they sell all their Bitcoin now. But Bukele says they have no intention of selling.

Oil prices climbed more than 2% on Monday as further supply cuts in OPEC+ production are expected to be announced following a meeting of member countries early next week.

Brent crude futures settled up $1.71, or 2.1%, at $82.32 a barrel.

The front-month December West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) expired at $77.60, up $1.71, or 2.3%. The more active January futures gained $2.39 to $77.83, up 1.8%.

Gold prices were muted on Monday, but retained a bulk of last week’s gains as easing concerns over rising U.S. interest rates pulled down the dollar.

Industrial metals saw strong gains, with copper prices rising 0.6% to a 1-½ month high on the prospect of more stimulus measures in major importer China.