Precious-Gold resumed its drop on Tuesday to trade below six-month high as investors’ attention turned to the Fed meeting.
Eyes will focus on the two-day Fed meeting starting today, as it will show the seriousness of policymakers regarding their stimulus reduction plan.
Expectations are in favor of seeing further bond purchases cut by slashing another $10 billion this month to $55 billion.
A report released yesterday showed U.S. industrial output climbed in February by the most in six months.
Later in the day, a report may signal U.S. housing starts soared to 913,000 in February from 880,000 a month earlier.
The improvement in data, most notably labor market figures, has raised speculations the Fed would continue with the same pace of bond purchases cut.
On the political front, tension between Russia and the West escalated after Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Crimea as a sovereign state, following Sunday’s referendum which got more than 96 percent vote to join Russia.
The United States and European Union decided to impose personal sanctions yesterday on Russian and Crimean officials involved in the split of Crimea from Ukraine.
So far, the yellow metal has gained near 13 percent this year on geopolitical tension and slowdown in China, after dropping 28 percent last year.
Meanwhile, the yellow metal is trading around $1360.37 an ounce after hitting a high of $1367.41 and a low of $1357.48. The Stochastic Oscillator momentum indicator has drifted lower from an overbought area.
The U.S. dollar inched down against a basket of major currencies to hover around 79.49 after opening at 79.53, according to the dollar index.
Crude oil for April’s delivery ticked up to $98.03 a barrel from the session’s opening of $97.96.