jan 5 reuters  gold rose on wednesday supported by declines in the dollar and worries over the fastspreading omicron variant as focus turned to inflation ahead of the release of the minutes of the us federal reserves latest policy meeting spot gold was last up 04 at 182243 per ounce by 1044 edt 1543 gmt with us gold futures rising 05 to 182260 with inflation having surged in the past six months investors will scan the minutes from the feds december meeting releasing at 1900 gmt for signs of policymakers willingness to tighten monetary policy price inflation that becomes problematic is bullish for hard assets like the raw commodities including the precious metal and with some of the inflation worries starting to resurface thats inviting some buying interest in the safe haven gold market said jim wyckoff a senior analyst at kitco metals the dollar dxy eased 03 making bullion an attractive bet for overseas buyers further boosting gold was a subdued risk appetite in equity markets with wall streets main indexes opening lower weighed by technology stocks gold prices are firming despite the market pricing of a 70 probability for a fed rate hike in march as appetite for safehavens grow amid soaring infections rising rates and wobbly equity prices td securities wrote in a note although gold is considered a hedge against excess inflation higher interest rates may tarnish its appeal by increase the opportunity cost of holding bullion meanwhile goldman sachs said in a note that cryptocurrency bitcoin will take market share away from gold in 2022 as digital assets become more widely adopted read more in other precious metals spot silver rose 02 to 2308 an ounce platinum was up 22 at 99251 and palladium gained 24 at 191562 reporting by kavya guduru in bengaluru editing by amy caren daniel