· Gold prices reversed early gains to trade slightly lower on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar recovered from a three-year low against a basket of currencies.
· Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,334.86 an ounce by 0641 GMT, after rising to $1,343.91 earlier in the session. It touched its strongest since Sept. 8 at $1,344.44 on Monday.
· U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,335.40 an ounce.
· The dollar index was up 0.3 percent at 90.684, after dropping to its lowest since December, 2014 to 90.113 early in the session.
· "Most of the move in gold has been dollar denominated ... We have seen very little change in ETF holdings. There is very little change in perception of gold in terms of safe haven demand," said Mark Keenan, global commodities strategist and head of research - Asia-Pacific at Societe Generale.
"The outlook for gold in our view is down due to the lack of physical demand in Asia and the outlook for rate hikes this year is a headwind for gold."
· The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates multiple times this year, although at a gradual pace.
· Asian stocks stepped back from a record high on Wednesday as the region's resource shares were hit by falling oil and commodity prices while digital currencies tumbled on worries about tighter regulations.
"While the U.S. dollar remains the most prominent driver of momentum, we cannot overlook the meltdown in Bitcoin on the back of regulatory oversight adding to the gold risk premium," said
Stephen Innes, APAC head of trading at OANDA.
· Spot gold prices fell Tuesday after trading above $1,340 in the previous session, but MKS PAMP trader Sam Laughlin believes the metal has more room to run and the $1,330 support should hold.
· Supportive interest around USD $1,330 should restrict any further declines; however, should we see a period of weakness, support broadly around USD $1,305 - $1,310 will act as a pivot point for the metal and will need to hold to continue the recent upward momentum, said Laughlin says in a note to clients.
· Gold looks ready to test its September high in the near term. We are likely to see further short squeezes over the near-term as the metal edges toward $1,350 and above this the September 2017 high around $1,357 will be the ultimate target for bulls, the firm added.
Reference: Scrap Register,Reuters
Thai
Eng