By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Wednesday morning in Asia against rising U.S. Treasury yields. Investors also await the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy decision for further clues on the direction of the central bank's monetary policy.
Gold futures were down 0.44% to $1,770.95 by 12:32 AM ET (4:32 AM GMT). The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, inched up on Wednesday.
The Fed will hand down its decision later in the day. Investors will also monitor U.S. President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress on the same day for clues on further stimulus measures.
The Conference Board (CB) Consumer Confidence index also rose to 121.7, a 14-month high, in April. Increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates and additional fiscal stimulus measures, allowing more business to reopen, also contributed to a stronger economic recovery.
In Asia, Japan’s retail sales rose 5.2% in March year-on-year, the fastest pace in five months. The figure was higher than both the 4.7% increase in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and February's 1.5% contraction.
The rosier economic outlook saw investors turn away from the safe-haven yellow metal.
On the COVID-19 front, the U.S. will assist India in dealing with the latter’s record numbers of COVID-19 cases, which topped 17.6 million cases as of Apr. 28, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
In other precious metals, silver fell 0.9% and platinum slid 1%, while palladium eased after hitting a record high of $2,941 on Monday.