• Gold prices edged lower on Wednesday as the dollar ticked higher after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen hinted at a hike in interest rates in an upcoming meeting of the central bank.
Spot gold fell 0.14 percent, to $1,226.44 per ounce by 0257GMT, while U.S. gold futures rose 0.17 percent to $1,227.50.
The dollar index was flat at 101.25, near a 3-1/2-week high of 101.38 hit on Tuesday following Yellen's remarks.
• "The focus is really on the U.S. fiscal policy, which is to be announced in the next couple of weeks. And if that stokes up the inflation expectations, we expect gold to suffer and consolidate for a while," said Richard Xu, fund manager at China's biggest gold exchange-traded fund, HuaAn Gold.
Xu added, however, that the fund still expects "gold will pick up momentum in the second half of the year."
• Investors are eyeing a batch of U.S. economic data due out later on Wednesday, including consumer price index (CPI) and retail sales, for any fresh catalysts.
• Spot gold may break a support at $1,220 per ounce and fall more towards the next support at $1,213, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
• In other precious metals, spot silver fell by 0.2 percent, to $17.91 per ounce. The metal hit $18.07 on Tuesday, its highest since Nov. 11 last year.
Reference: Reuters
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