Investing.com - Gold prices were little changed during North American morning hours on Monday, with investors hesitant to take strong positions due to the U.S. national holiday for Presidents Day.
Gold for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was steady at $1,238.95 a troy ounce by 9:15AM ET (14:15GMT).
Trading activity was likely to stay light as markets in the U.S. remain closed for President’s Day on Monday.
Market players awaited further hints on the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.
In the week ahead, global financial markets will focus on minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting as well as housing-related data for more clues on the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.
There are also more than a few Fed speakers this week, including Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart.
Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said in a speech in Singapore on Monday she would be "comfortable" raising interest rates at this point if the economy maintained its current pace of performance.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said last week that the U.S. central bank will likely need to raise interest rates at an upcoming meeting, although she flagged considerable uncertainty over economic policy under the Donald Trump administration.
Fed fund futures priced in a less than 15% chance of a rate hike in March, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool. Odds of a June increase was seen at around 70%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 100.85 in early New York morning trade, almost unchanged for the day.
Headlines from Washington will most likely remain in focus in the week ahead, as traders await further details on President Donald Trump's promises of tax reform, deregulation and infrastructure spending.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery dipped 4.0 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.99 a troy ounce.
Meanwhile, platinum shed 0.2% to $1,004.40, while palladium slumped 0.3%, to $777.28 an ounce.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures climbed 2.4 cents, or about 0.9%, to $2.731 a pound, as concerns over supply disruptions in Chile and Indonesia supported prices.
Prices of the red metal rallied to a 20-month peak of $2.822 last week after strikes at BHP Billiton (LON:BLT)'s Chilean Escondida and Freeport-McMoran (NYSE:FCX)'s Indonesian Grasberg mine.
Combined, the mines produce roughly 10% of the world's total copper supply.