Investing.com -- Gold ticked up on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous two sessions, as investors traded cautiously ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy statement in U.S. afternoon trading.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for June delivery traded in a tight range between $1,244.00 and $1,252.65 an ounce before settling at $1,250.75, up $7.25 or 0.59% on the day. Gold has closed higher in three consecutive sessions and seven of the last 10. More broadly, the precious metal is up by nearly 18% since the start of the year and is on pace for one of its strongest opening halves in more than a decade.
Gold likely gained support at $1,063.20, the low from January 4 and was met with resistance at $1,280.70, the high from Mar. 11.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is widely expected to leave short-term interest rates unchanged, marking the third straight meeting it will hold rates steady since its historic rate hike in December. At its last meeting in March, the FOMC voted 9-1 to leave the target range of its benchmark Federal Funds Rate at its current level between 0.25 and 0.50%. In December, the FOMC lifted the Federal Funds Rate by 25 basis points, abandoning a seven-year zero interest rate policy by approving its first rate hike in nearly a decade. While the FOMC anticipated raising rates as much as four times this year in its December outlook, the U.S. central bank lowered its forecast to as few as two rate hikes in March, amid slowing global economic conditions.
Since the Fed began tightening monetary policy at the end of the last year, the European Central Bank has implemented a wide range of easing measures while the Bank of Japan has lowered rates into negative territory for the first time in its history. Following the Fed's decision, the BOJ could lower its deposit rate even further at a closely-watched meeting on Thursday. Any rate hikes by the Fed this year are viewed as bearish for gold, which struggles to compete with high-yield bearing assets in rising rate environments.
Elsewhere, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday morning that its pending home sales index rose 1.4% in March, above consensus estimates for a 0.5% increase. In the Northeast region, pending home sales are up 18.4% on a yearly basis, offsetting slowing growth in the Midwest. It came one month after the index surged 3.5% in February. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta also increased its forecast for U.S. GDP in the first quarter by 0.2 to 0.6%, ahead of Thursday's latest estimate by the Department of Commerce. Analysts are expecting a reading of 0.7%.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was relatively flat in afternoon trading at 94.38. The index remains near eight-month lows.
Silver for May delivery gained 0.175 or 1.02% to $17.285 an ounce.
Copper for May delivery fell 0.022 or 1.00% to $2.224 a pound.