Gold prices slipped half a dirham at the opening of the market in the UAE on Thursday morning, according to Dubai Jewellery Group data.

The 24K gold was trading at Dh242.25 per gram on Thursday morning as compared to last night’s close of Dh242.75 per gram. Among the other variants of the yellow metal, 22K opened at Dh224.25, 21K at Dh217.25 and 18K at Dh186.0 per gram, respectively.

Gold broke above the key $2,000 level on Wednesday as fresh worries surrounding US banking turmoil drove investors to the safe haven. But it then fell below the $2,000 level on Thursday morning.

Spot gold was trading at $1,999.83 per ounce at 9.10 am UAE time.

Gold is treading waters right now, as investors keep an eye on US debt ceiling talks, and the Fed meeting next, which could offer some ideas on what to expect for the rest of the year, said Edward Meir, a metals analyst at Marex.

Meanwhile, First Republic Bank's market value plunged again on Wednesday as investors waited to see if it would be able to find buyers for assets and engineer a turnaround without government support.

Therefore, given the "uneasy tone with the banking situation" and the "debt ceiling uncertainties, gold will probably be more sensitive to the upside than to the downside," Meir said.

Safe-haven gold scaled an over the one-year peak at $2,048.71 mid-April as the banking crisis unfolded and weak US economic readings bolstered bets for a pause in interest rate hikes.

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