• Gold prices eased slightly on Tuesday amid a firmer dollar as investors waited on clues on the timing of U.S. interest rate hikes in a host of speeches by Federal Reserve officials.
• Spot gold inched down 0.2 percent to $1,235.08 per ounce at 0058 GMT.
• Market activity is likely to be largely subdued until guidance on the pace of interest rate hikes from a raft of Federal Reserve speakers.
• The heads of five regional U.S. Federal Reserve banks are scheduled to speak this week. In addition, Fed Board Governor Jerome Powell appears on Wednesday, when minutes of the last policy meeting are also due.
• Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said on Monday she would be comfortable raising interest rates at this point if the economy kept performing the way it did.
• Hedge funds took profits in gold for the first time in three weeks as prices hit nearly a three-month high, according to the latest trade data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
• The disaggregated Commitments of Traders report, for the week ending Feb. 14, showed money managers reduced their speculative gross long positions in Comex gold futures by 6,803 contracts to 135,739. At the same time, short bets fell by 279 contracts to 72,114. Gold’s net length now stands at 63,625, contracts, down 9% from the previous week.
Reference: Reuters, Kitco
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