Investing.com - Gold prices rose in Asia on Thursday as Fed Chair Janet Yellen avoided a hard timeline for a rate hike, though a colleague did suggest the topic was up for discussion in November.
Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester said Wednesday that the November FOMC will be an "active meeting" and repeated her views another hike in the Fed funds rate is appropriate. The Investing.com Fed Rate Monitor Tool shows the market sees a 10.3% chance of a rate hike in November.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.24% to $1,326.85 a troy ounce.
Overnight, gold prices trimmed overnight losses during North America's session on Wednesday, but remained in negative territory.
On Tuesday, prices sank $13.70, or 1.02%, the biggest one-day loss in almost a month, as investors took heart from an apparent win for Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton over her Republican rival Donald Trump in the first U.S. presidential debate.
Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said Tuesday evening that the U.S. central bank should avoid raising interest rates too much. He added that rates should rise but that "I don't know when" that should happen.
Speaking shortly afterwards, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said that the Fed can raise interest rates without threatening the U.S. economic recovery, while adding that the central bank risks doing more harm by continued inaction.
The Fed left rates unchanged at a policy meeting last week, but most officials signaled a hike was likely by the end of the year.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion. A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.