Gold prices rose to a nine-month high on Thursday after rising sharply in the previous session as the Federal Reserve’s pledge to keep raising interest rates weakened the dollar and heightened concerns about a possible slowdown in economic growth this year.

The yellow metal largely outperformed its peers this week, with the Fed meeting boosting gold’s appeal as a safe haven. Gold prices rose more than 1% after the Fed raised rates by a relatively small 25 basis points and acknowledged its progress in fighting inflation. However, the central bank also expressed uncertainty about when the interest rate would peak.

This has reinforced expectations of a pause in Fed interest rate hikes by mid-2023 and a possible rate cut by the end of the year as growth in the US economy cools. Such a scenario is likely to be positive for gold.

Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,954.17 an ounce and gold futures jumped to $1,969.15 an ounce by 9:05 p.m. ET (02:05 GMT).

Gold’s rise coincided with a sharp weakening in the dollar, with the dollar falling to a more than nine-month low against a basket of currencies. Investment bank ING predicts the Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates once more before announcing a pause.

The dollar was also pressured by the expectation of interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, which boosted the euro and pound. Both banks are expected to raise rates by 50 basis points each and foreshadow further rate hikes as they seek to contain high inflation.

However, higher interest rates could also put further pressure on global economic growth, which, combined with perceived weakness in the dollar, is helping to reinforce gold’s safe haven status.

Other precious metals also rose. Platinum futures rose 0.6% to $1,018.50 an ounce, while silver futures climbed 2.8% to $24,270 an ounce.

On the other hand, industrial metals such as copper fell amid heightened fears of a recession this year.

High-grade copper futures were steady at $4.1787 a pound on Thursday after falling nearly 3% in the previous session.

Uncertainty over China’s economic recovery also worsened after mixed data from the world’s largest copper importer.