Gold futures edge lower ahead of Fed minutes

Investing.com - Gold futures edged lower on Wednesday, as market players looked ahead to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting for further indications as to when the central bank may start to taper its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.

Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its quantitative easing program sooner-than-expected.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at USD1,364.50 a troy ounce during European morning hours, down 0.6%.

Futures held in a tight range between USD1,363.80 a troy ounce, the daily low and a session high of USD1,373.90 a troy ounce.

The December contract settled up 0.5% at USD1,372.60 a troy ounce on Tuesday.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,318.10 a troy ounce, the low from August 15 and resistance at USD1,384.00, the high from August 19.

Investors will scrutinize the minutes of the Fed's July 30-31 meeting for further hints on when the central bank may start to pull back stimulus measures.

The central bank is scheduled to meet September 17-18 to review the economy and assess policy.

U.S. data on initial jobless claims and the housing sector later in the week will also be closely watched.

Gold traders have closely been looking out for U.S. data reports recently to gauge if they will strengthen or weaken the case for the Fed to reduce its bond purchases.

Any improvement in the U.S. economy was likely to reinforce the view that the central bank will begin to taper its bond purchase program in the coming months.

An exit from the stimulus would deal a heavy blow to gold, which has thrived on demand from investors who buy gold to hedge against the inflationary risks of loose monetary policies.

The precious metal is on track to post a loss of approximately 19% on the year amid concerns the Fed will start to unwind its stimulus program by the year's end.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery fell 0.95% to trade at USD22.85 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery fell 0.55% to trade at USD3.319 a pound.

Metal prices struggled for upside traction due to a slightly stronger U.S. dollar, as dollar-priced commodities become more expensive to investors holding other currencies when the greenback gains.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.2% to trade at 81.11, moving off the previous session’s low of 80.77.