Investing.com - Gold prices extended overnight losses during Europe's session on Wednesday to touch a one-week low, as market players awaited comments from a barrage of Federal Reserve officials, including the Fed chair, later in the session for further clues on the path of future rate hikes.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to a daily low of $1,326.00 a troy ounce, a level not seen since September 21. It was last at $1,326.35 by 3:30AM ET (07:30GMT).
On Tuesday, prices sank $13.70, or 1.02%, the biggest one-day loss in almost a month, as investors took heart from an apparent win for Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton over her Republican rival Donald Trump in the first U.S. presidential debate.
A handful of Fed policymakers are due to make public appearances on Wednesday that may offer insight into how divided they are about raising rates.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen appears before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT) on supervision and regulation.
Besides Yellen, Fed speakers include Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari at 8:45AM ET, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard at 10:15AM ET and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans at 1:30PM ET.
There are also appearances by Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester at 4:35PM ET and Kansas City Fed President Esther George, who speaks at 7:15PM ET. Both are seen as hawks by the market after they dissented at the last meeting and voted to raise rates.
On the data front, the U.S. will release durable goods data at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT), amid expectations for a decline of 1.4% in August. That number could affect GDP forecasts for the third quarter.
Data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. consumer confidence improved to a nine-year high, while a service sector survey also came in better than expected.
Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said Tuesday evening that the U.S. central bank should avoid raising interest rates too much. He added that rates should rise but that "I don't know when" that should happen.
Speaking shortly afterwards, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said that the Fed can raise interest rates without threatening the U.S. economic recovery, while adding that the central bank risks doing more harm by continued inaction.
The Fed left rates unchanged at a policy meeting last week, but most officials signaled a hike was likely by the end of the year. However, markets remain skeptical of such a move, with investors slashing the possibility of a December hike to below 50%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, down from over 60% after the Fed's policy meeting last week.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion. A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.25% at 95.57 early Wednesday.
A stronger U.S. dollar usually weighs on gold, as it dampens the metal's appeal as an alternative asset and makes dollar-priced commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.