• Gold inched down on Wednesday in the face of a key technical resistance and talks on further rate hikes this year saw the dollar move away from multi-month lows amid rising equities.
Spot gold was down 0.1 percent to $1,250.75 per ounce at 0714 GMT.
• "A resurgent U.S. dollar, along with higher U.S. yields and equities has taken the momentum out of the gold rally for now," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
The metal was also under pressure after failing to break through its 200-day moving average at $1,260, Halley said, posting its second consecutive down day in Asia.
• Reinforcing rate hike expectations, U.S. consumer confidence index hit 125.6 in March, surpassing expectations for a reading of 114 and much higher than 116.1 in February. The March level marked the highest since December 2000.
"Perhaps the expectations of a June rate hike have gone up, given the recent statements from the central bank officials," said Jiang Shu, chief analyst at Shandong Gold Group.
• "As for the balance of this week, we think that gold will stabilize and possibly push higher given that Tuesday's advance in equities did not have much of an impact in slowing its upward momentum," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.
"In addition, technicals still look constructive, just as physical demand seems to be improving, particularly out of India."
• In other precious metals, spot silver slipped as much as 0.4 percent to $18.10 per ounce. In the previous session, the metal hit $18.24, the highest since March 2.
Reference: Nasdaq
Thai
Eng