Investing.com - Gold futures were under pressure in North American trade on Wednesday, falling to a three-week low as hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials boosted the U.S. dollar.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said late on Tuesday that the central bank should consider another interest rate hike as early as next month and added that he would prefer at least three hikes before year-end.
Meanwhile, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said he expects two more rate increases this year, if the economy remains on track.
The hawkish comments follow similar remarks made by San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart earlier this week.
The market will be paying attention to a speech by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard later in the day to further judge the balance of opinion among policymakers on the prospect of further rate hikes.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.4% at one-week highs of 96.05.
A stronger dollar makes U.S. commodities more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.
Gold for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange sank $23.50, or 1.88%, to trade at $1,225.10 a troy ounce by 12:45GMT, or 8:45AM ET, after hitting a session low of $1,222.90, the weakest since February 29.
A day earlier, gold inched up $4.40, or 0.35%, as a series of deadly explosions in Brussels sparked a wave of risk aversion, boosting appetite for safe-haven assets.
Prices of the yellow metal are up nearly 15% so far this year as investors seek safe havens in the face of mounting instability in other financial markets and as fears over a China-led global economic slowdown make it tougher for the Fed to raise rates.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for May delivery slumped 49.0 cents, or 3.08%, to trade at $15.39 a troy ounce during morning hours in New York, while copper futures shed 1.4 cents, or 0.63%, to $2.275 a pound.