Kuala lumpur: The gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is poised to see an increase in trading next week, driven by the anticipation of a potential interest rate cut by the United States Federal Reserve. This expectation continues to attract investors to gold as a safe-haven asset.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, recent US economic data indicating a modest slowdown has strengthened market predictions for a rate cut at the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting on December 9-10. These expectations are further supported by policy-easing forecasts from major brokerages. Dr. Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, the chief economist at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, conveyed to Bernama that gold prices could range between US$4,220 and US$4,250 per troy ounce in the coming week.

Trading on Bursa Malaysia's derivatives market experienced an interruption last Friday due to a Globex system outage but resumed operations on December 1. Over the period from last Thursday to this Friday, the spot-month December 2025 contract rose to US$4,206.10 per troy ounce from US$4,172.60 per troy ounce.

The January 2026 contract saw an increase to US$4,221.80 per troy ounce from the previous US$4,188.50 per troy ounce, while the February 2026 contract decreased slightly to US$4,269.90 per troy ounce, compared to US$4,204.80 the week before. Meanwhile, both the April 2026 and June 2026 contracts settled higher at US$4,303.80 per troy ounce, up from a previous US$4,204.80 per troy ounce.

The weekly trading volume also saw an uptick, rising to 299 lots from 245 lots last week, although open interest declined to 148 contracts from 181 contracts a week earlier. In the physical market, gold was priced at US$4,200.60 per troy ounce, as per the London Bullion Market Association's afternoon fix on December 4, 2025.