Investing.com - Gold drifted lower in Asia Thursday after the Federal Reserve held rates steady and signaled it continued to assess data on household spending with near-term attention on the Bank of Japan's review of policy.
New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for June delivery traded down 0.21% to $1,247.75 a troy ounce.
Silver futures for May delivery rose 0.06% to $17.300 a troy ounce, while copper futures for May delivery gained 0.09% to $2.234 a pound.
Earlier in Japan, household spending eased 5.3% year-on-year in March, more than the 4.2% drop expected. As well, national core CPI dropped 0.3% year-on-year for March, more than the 0.2% fall seen even as the unemployment rate dipped to 3.2% from an expected 3.3% level.
Japan also reported provisional industrial production for March month-on-month rose 3.6%, more than the 2.9% gain seen, while retail sales slipped 1.1% year-on-year, less than the 1.5% declined expected.
The Federal Reserve's policy making Federal Open Market Committee left short-term interest rates unchanged Wednesday as expected, but tweaked its policy statement, possibly preparing financial markets for another modest rate hike in coming months.
The FOMC, which started raising the federal funds rate from near zero in mid-December, left the funds rate in a 25 to 50 basis point target range, on a 9-1 vote, as Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George dissented in favor of an immediate rate hike for the second straight meeting.
Still, the tone was partly downbeat in the statement.
"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that labor market conditions have improved further even as growth in economic activity appears to have slowed. Growth in household spending has moderated, although households real income has risen at a solid rate and consumer sentiment remains high." the Fed said.
Overnight, 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 monetary policy statement.
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%.