Investing.com - Gold prices came off the strongest levels of the session in North American morning trade on Tuesday, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told Congress that waiting too long to raise interest rates would be "unwise" as economic growth continues and inflation rises.
Yellen said that even though the Fed expects to hike gradually and to keep policy accommodative, getting rates back to normal levels is important and hikes will be considered ahead.
She added that increases would be evaluated "at upcoming meetings."
Her comments came in testimony prepared for delivery to the Senate Banking Committee.
Fed fund futures priced in around a 20% chance of a rate hike in March, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, while odds of a June increase was seen at around 70%.
The precious metal is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar in which it is priced.
Both a strong dollar and higher interest rates are typically bearish for gold, which is denominated in dollars and struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when borrowing costs rise.
Gold for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $2.00, or about 0.2%, to $1,227.75 a troy ounce by 10:15AM ET (15:15GMT), after losing $10.10, or around 0.8%, a day earlier.
Prices of the yellow metal fell to a one-week low of $1,220.30 on Monday as investors piled into the U.S. dollar and stocks amid optimism over President Donald Trump's economic agenda.
Since the election, the Fed has taken a back seat to the market optimism around the pro-growth tax and stimulus policies of President Trump.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery tacked on 6.7 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.89 a troy ounce. Prices rose to a three-month high of $18.08 earlier
Meanwhile, platinum added 0.5% to $1,005.50, while palladium rose 0.9% to $781.90 an ounce.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures lost 2.0 cents, or about 0.7%, to $2.763 a pound.
Prices of the red metal rallied to a 20-month peak of $2.822 on Monday amid concerns over a disruption to global supplies after strikes at BHP Billiton (LON:BLT)'s Chilean Escondida and Freeport McMoran's Indonesian Grasberg mine.
Combined, the mines produce roughly 10% of the world's total copper supply.