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Iran-Israel airstrikes pause after Trump warning

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US consumer confidence weakens on job market worries

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Powell repeats rate cuts can wait as Fed studies tariff

impacts

(Adds comments, updates for Asia morning session)

By Anushree Mukherjee and Anmol Choubey

June 25 (Reuters) - Gold firmed on Wednesday as the U.S.

dollar and Treasury yields retreated, while market participants

monitored the fragile truce between Israel and Iran.

Spot gold was up 0.2% at $3,328.89 per ounce, as of

0250 GMT, after hitting a more than two-week low on Tuesday.

U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $3,343.00.

The dollar index hovered near a one-week low, making

bullion more attractive for other currency holders. The

benchmark 10-year Treasury yields remained near a

more than one-month low.

"The technical selling of the U.S. dollar and weaker U.S.

Treasury yield have benefited gold prices," OANDA senior market

analyst Kelvin Wong said.

A potential catalyst for a gold breakout could be further

weakness in the dollar, renewed focus on the fiscal deficit and

U.S. tariff policy as Iran-Israel tensions ease, Wong added.

On Tuesday, Iran and Israel signalled that the air war

between them had ended, at least for now, after U.S. President

Donald Trump publicly scolded them for violating a ceasefire he

announced.

U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in June

as households increasingly worried about job availability,

another indication that labor market conditions were softening

amid rising uncertainty from Trump's tariffs.

Higher tariffs could begin raising inflation this summer, a

period that will be key to U.S. Federal Reserve's consideration

of possible rate cuts, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told members of

Congress on Tuesday.

Fed funds futures traders are now pricing in 60 basis points

of rate cuts for 2025, with the first move expected to come in

September.

According to a report by the Official Monetary and Financial

Institutions Forum, one in three central banks managing a

combined $5 trillion plan to increase exposure to gold over the

next 1-2 years, the highest in at least five years.

Elsewhere, spot silver was steady at $35.90 per

ounce, platinum fell 0.3% to $1,312.56, while palladium

was down 0.5% at $1,060.50.