ECB says it retains the capacity to respond appropriately to the current highly uncertain environment.

CITI/YOUGOV survey: UK long-term public inflation expectations eased to 4.0% in October from 4.3% in September.

During Asian trade on Friday, gold fell for a second session and briefly slipped below $4,000 as persistent expectations of a hawkish Fed weighed. Weak tech earnings raised concern that rising AI spending may not deliver commensurate returns, prompting flows into safe-haven US Treasuries and pushing US yields sharply lower. Renewed hopes for a diplomatic end to the Middle East conflict drove the dollar down for a third day but did little to ease gold’s downside bias. Iran’s navy claimed four tankers struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz, heightening supply-disruption risk and supporting oil. Together these factors underpin dollar dip-buying and leave gold’s path of least resistance to the downside; any rallies are likely to encounter selling. Gold is on track to fall about 3.5% month-to-date.