Gold Rebounds, Central Banks Meetings Eyed

Gold prices rebounded on Tuesday after four consecutive sessions of declining ahead of the anticipated monetary decisions from major central banks, with expectations to stick to their loose monetary policies at their meeting on Thursday, reviving bullions` inflation-hedge appeal.

Spot gold is trading around $1580.63 per ounce by 09:29 (GMT+2) after opening at $1574.31, hitting a high of $1582.71 and a low of $1574.21 an ounce.

Silver traded at $28.88 an ounce after opening at $28.47, hitting high at $28.92 and low at $27.94 an ounce.

European Central bank (ECB), the Bank of England (BOE) and Bank of Japan (BOJ) will hold their policy meetings later this week, and are expected to maintain their monetary stance.

Loose monetary policies adopted by central banks have supported gold`s rally, as investors fearing higher inflation as a result of such policies resort to bullions as a hedge against inflation.

The euro remained weak on Tuesday after eurozone’s finance ministers meeting yesterday. Ministers refused to rule out a bailout deal for Cyprus even after concerns over signs of capital flight from the island, and said the talks over Cyprus aid package will drag on until late March.

However, the 17-country bloc representatives for finance cleared the path for somewhat lissome budget policies, citing the Italian reaction against austerity measures that pushed Italy into political deadlock in the past couple of weeks.

The euro is trading at $1.3030 as of 09:29 AM (GMT +2) after opening at $1.3022. The EUR / USD pair has so far set a session high at $1.3045 and low of $1.3017.

Investors remain on the sidelines, with no deal between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress which is threatening the world`s biggest economy of falling back into recession after $85 billion of spending cuts kicked in on Friday.

As of 09:29 (GMT+2), the dollar index hovered around 82.11 after opening at 82.18, where it hit a high of 82.20 and a low of 82.00.