Investing.com - Gold futures were lower in North American trade on Tuesday, holding on to losses despite data showing that U.S. durable goods orders rose less than forecast in March.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that total durable goods orders, which include transportation items, increased 0.8% last month, while core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, fell 0.2%.
Orders for core capital goods, a key barometer of private-sector business investment, was flat last month, while shipments of core capital goods, a category used to calculate quarterly economic growth, inched up 0.3%.
Gold for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange shed $4.50, or 0.36%, to trade at $1,235.80 a troy ounce by 12:35GMT, or 8:35AM ET. A day earlier, gold tacked on $10.20, or 0.83%.
Attention now shifts to the Federal Reserve, which begins its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. The U.S. central bank is not expected to take action on interest rates, but traders will be looking for its take on the global economy and its monetary policy outlook.
Many in the market anticipate the pace of increases to be gradual amid concerns over global economic growth and divergent monetary policies between the U.S. and other nations.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell to 94.32 in early trade. It last stood at 94.36, down 0.4% for the day.
Prices of the yellow metal are up nearly 16% so far this year as expectations faded that the Fed would move to normalize interest rates due to fears over a China-led global economic slowdown.
A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver futures for May delivery dipped 5.4 cents, or 0.32%, to trade at $16.95 a troy ounce during morning hours in New York, while copper futures declined 2.0 cents, or 0.89%, to $2.236 a pound.