Forexpros – Gold prices were lower in Asian trading on Wednesday as the yellow metal erased earlier gains when investors sold and jumped to the sidelines to await the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and monetary policy later during the day.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery traded down 0.10% at USD1,642.15 a troy ounce.
Gold traded at a low of USD1,641.45 a troy ounce and hit a high of USD1,643.75 a troy ounce during the session.
The precious metal sought to test support at USD1,623.95 a troy ounce, the low of April 23, and resistance at USD1,657.95, the high on April 17.
The Federal Reserve is set to release its statement on monetary policy later in the U.S. on Wednesday, with markets hoping for more insight over whether the Fed sees a need for more stimulus measures.
Since the downturn, the Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy by buying assets from banks, a stimulus policy known officially as quantitative easing.
Mere talk the Federal Reserve will consider more quantitative easing has sent the dollar falling and gold rising in recent months, although no clear weather vane in favor or against easing has arisen in the past few trading sessions.
Gold spent Wednesday jumping from side to side as investors prepped for the official announcement later in the day on hopes language will suggest voting members are growing increasingly against rolling out fresh stimulus measures despite doggedly high unemployment rates.
U.S. data earlier came in lukewarm, although not weak enough to rekindle talk of Federal Reserve intervention via easing.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller house price index fell at an annualized rate of 3.5% in February from a year earlier, worse than expectations for a 3.4% decline.
New home sales in the U.S. fell by 7.1% to a seasonally adjusted 328,000 units in March, slightly better than expectations for a reading of 320,000.
Consumer confidence, meanwhile, slipped in the world’s largest economy as well.
The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index fell to 69.2 in April from a downwardly revised reading of 69.5 in March and further below a 12-month high in February.
Analysts were hoping the index would rise to 69.7 in April.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for July delivery was up 0.15% and trading at USD30.862 a troy ounce, while copper for July delivery was down 0.17% and trading at USD3.675 a pound.
Forexpros
