Investing.com - Gold prices edged lower on Monday, amid expectations the Federal Reserve will end its bond-buying program later this week.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at $1,228.80 a troy ounce during European morning hours, down $3.00, or 0.24%.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,222.00, the low from October 15, and resistance at $1,255.60, the high from October 21.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for December delivery shed 3.4 cents, or 0.2%, to trade at $17.14 a troy ounce.
Market players are looking ahead to the outcome of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting amid expectations that it will wind up asset purchases under its third round of quantitative easing.
Investors will be scrutinizing the Fed statement for wording that reflects expectations that rates could go higher sooner than expected, possibly by omitting mention of its commitment to keep rates low "for a considerable time".
A recent batch of stronger than expected U.S. economic data indicated that the economic recovery maintained momentum and underlined speculation that the Fed could hike interest rates sooner than previously thought.
Rate hikes tend to dampen gold prices as it increases the relative cost of holding on to the metal.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for December delivery inched down 0.8 cents, or 0.27%, to trade at $3.033 a pound.
Meanwhile, the euro pushed higher against the dollar after results of stress tests on Europe’s largest banks showed that most of the region’s top lenders have enough capital to survive another financial crisis.
The European Central Bank announced the results of yearlong tests to assess the finances on 150 banks on Sunday. Overall, 25 banks were found to have a capital shortfall, but most have already taken steps to resolve this, the ECB said.
In total, 13 banks still need to come up with a total of €9.5 billion in extra capital, which was at the lower end of market expectations.