gold futures climbed thursday to settle at their highest since late august buoyed by a retreat in the us dollar and treasury yields on the back of a smallerthanexpected monthly rise in us inflation a cool inflation report has made markets confident that the federal reserve can “downshift to halfpoint rate hiking pace and possibly be done with tightening after the march fomc meeting” said edward moya senior market analyst at oanda gold for december delivery gcz22 rose 40 or 23 to settle at 175370 an ounce on comex the highest mostactive contract finish since aug 25 according to dow jones market data