Investing.com - Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday in Asia as investors awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve's January meeting later in the day.
Gold futures traded at $1,345.55 per ounce by 12:41 AM ET (05:41 GMT) on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Precious metals traders will be watching for fresh clues on the future path of monetary policy after the Fed indicated last month that it could hold off raising interest rates and stop the unwind of its balance sheet sooner than expected.
“First, (the Fed) effectively ruled out any rate increases this year,” Investing.com’s Darrell Delamaide said. “Now the message coming across is that the Fed won’t be shrinking its balance sheet much more than it has already and will keep it at fairly elevated levels.”
“It may even keep quantitative easing -- purchasing bonds with money created out of thin air -- as a new tool for monetary policy rather than just an emergency measure.”
On Tuesday, gold prices received some support after Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, normally considered to be one of the Fed hawks, stated that she would favor slowing down the balance sheet normalization process.
The dovish shift in tone to the Fed’s message implies a longer pause in rate hikes, which in turn decreases the opportunity cost of holding non-interest bearing gold.
Sino-U.S. trade talks also remained in focus amid hopes that the world's two largest economics would be able to secure a deal to resolve their year-long tariff war.