• Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended slightly lower on Tuesday, after nearing the prior session's one-month high, as the U.S. dollar and stock markets extended gains.
• The most active gold contract for April delivery fell 0.1 U.S. dollars, or 0.01 percent, to settle at 1,255.60dollars per ounce.
• Spot gold <XAU=> was down 0.3 percent at $1,249.56 an ounce on Wednesday, having touched its highest in a month at $1,261.03 on Monday.
• Traders are waiting for the release of several economic reports this week. A speech by the head of the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve Charles Evans is expected on Wednesday, the gross domestic product report and weekly jobless claims on Thursday, and personal income and outlays report on Friday.
These economic reports due later this week will give some hints on when the U.S. Federal Reserve intends to hike interest rates. Investors believe the Fed may raise rates from 1.00 percent to 1.25 percent during the June FOMC meeting.
• According to the CME Group's Fed watch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 1.00 percent to 1.25 percent is at 4 percent at the May meeting and 47 percent for the June meeting, along with a 2 percent chance of an increase to a 1.5 percent rate.
• "We saw investors cycle out of gold but back into equity markets," said Phillip Streible, senior commodities broker for RJO Futures in Chicago, adding that profit-taking also added pressure to the metal.
"The dollar index and the equity markets are playing the biggest role in the direction of gold right now."
• Prices also responded to technical resistance around $1,260, near the 200-day moving average, while support is expected to kick in at a Fibonacci retracement level of about $1,245.
• Investor demand for gold can be seen in the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York-listed SPDR Gold Shares <GLD>, which reported an outflow of 1.77 tonnes on Tuesday.
• Silver for May delivery added 14.4 cents, or 0.80 percent, to close at 18.252 dollars per ounce.
Reference: Xinhua, Reuters
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