Investing.com - Gold prices eased in Asia on Thursday, following on from a U.S. Fed decision to continue to taper asset purchases.
Markets in Japan, Australia and New Zealand are open Thursday and China, while closed, still released the CFLP manufacturing PMI for April showing a slight uptick to 50.4, just below an expectation of 50.5, and higher than the 50.3 reported last month.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery traded at $1,290.50 a troy ounce, down 0.42%, after hitting an overnight session low of $1,285.10 and off a high of $1,298.20.
Overnight, gold prices softened after the Federal Reserve said it was trimming its monthly bond-buying program to $45 billion on the view that the economy is improving and is in less need of monetary stimulus.
While the unemployment rate remains elevated, the labor market is improving, while fiscal factors that have weighed on recovery in the past are diminishing as well, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's rate-setting body, said in a statement.
"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that growth in economic activity has picked up recently, after having slowed sharply during the winter in part because of adverse weather conditions. Labor market indicators were mixed but on balance showed further improvement," the Fed said in its statement.
Gold prices remained lower on the news, though prices didn't plummet as a $10 billion cut to the stimulus program came as little surprise to many.
Furthermore, the Fed stressed that even when the bond-buying programs wraps up, interest rates will remain very low for some time afterward, which cushioned the yellow metal's losses.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 0.1% in the first quarter, far shy of expectations for a 1.2% growth rate.
Still, Fed language suggesting that rough winter weather made the economy look worse than it was tarnished gold's appeal.
Silver for July delivery fell 0.27% at US$19.123 a troy ounce, while copper futures for July delivery eased 0.03% at US$3.024 a pound.