09:07 AM EDT, 08/29/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Gold was steady early on Friday even as the dollar rose as a key U.S. inflation measure was steady last month, meeting market expectations while failing to dim hopes for coming interest-rate cuts.

Gold for December delivery was last seen down US$0.70 to US$3.473.60 per ounce.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported the July Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, rose at a 2.6% annualized pace, unchanged from June and matching the consensus expectation, according to FactSet.

Core PCE, excluding volatile items, rose 2.9%, up from 2.8% a month earlier but also meeting the consensus estimate.

While the measure shows inflation remains above the Fed's 2% target rate, the PCE data is unlikely to lower market hopes for a cut to interest rates following a dovish week-ago speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that signaled the central bank is likely move off its stand-pat policy. Though Powell did not indicate when lower rates will come, the market is expecting a 25 basis point cut to be announced at the Sept.17 end to the meeting of the bank's policy committee.

The dollar rose following the data, with the ICE dollar index last seen up 0.29 points to 98.1. Treasury yields were also higher, with the U.S. two-year note last seen paying 3.645%, up 0.8 basis points, while the yield on the 10-year note was up 2.4 points to 4.233%