Investing.com - Gold prices traded near a one-week low on Thursday, following the Federal Reserve’s decision to taper its monthly bond-buying program by $10 billion for the fourth consecutive meeting.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for June delivery held in a tight range between $1,285.10 a troy ounce and $1,293.10 an ounce.
Gold last traded at $1,286.90 an ounce during European morning hours, down 0.69%, or $9.00. Futures declined 0.03%, or 40 cents an ounce on Wednesday to settle at $1,295.90.
Gold prices were likely to find support at $1,268.40 a troy ounce, the low from April 24 and resistance at $1,306.60, the high from April 28.
The Fed said Wednesday it would reduce its bond purchases by $10 billion to a total of $45 billion a month, in a widely expected decision. The Fed also said interest rates would remain on hold at record lows for a "considerable time" after the bond-buying program ends later this year.
The U.S. central bank acknowledged that first quarter growth was far weaker than expected, but added that momentum had started to pick up in recent weeks.
"Growth in economic activity has picked up recently, after having slowed sharply during the winter in part because of adverse weather conditions," the bank said.
Data released Wednesday showed that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.1% in the first three months of the year, well below forecasts for an expansion of 1.2%.
Investors now looked ahead to Friday’s closely-watched U.S. jobs report for April, which was expected to indicate that the recovery in the labor market is continuing.
Also on the Comex, silver for July delivery declined 0.34%, or 6.6 cents, to trade at $19.10 a troy ounce. Silver ended Wednesday’s session down 1.86%, or 36.4 cents, to settle at $19.17 an ounce.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for July delivery shed 0.2%, or 0.6 cents, to trade at $3.021 a pound.
Data released earlier showed that China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index inched up to 50.4 in April, just below an expectation of 50.5, and higher than the 50.3 reported last month.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.