Investing.com - Gold futures remained lower on Wednesday, as traders were jittery ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated statement on the future of its stimulus program, expected later in the trading session.
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 USD1,301.60 a troy ounce during European afternoon hours, down 0.60%.
The December contract settled 0.65% lower at USD1,309.40 a troy ounce on Thursday.
Market analysts expect the Fed to start cutting monthly bond purchases by USD10 billion to USD75 billion when it concludes its two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday.
Monthly purchases of Treasuries will be scaled back by USD10 billion to USD35 billion, while mortgage-bond buying will remain unchanged at USD40 billion.
The precious metal is on track to post a loss of nearly 23% on the year as traders bet an improving U.S. economy would lead the Fed to unwind its stimulus program by the year's end.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery declined 0.67% to trade at USD21.648 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery jumped 1.42% to trade at USD3.268 a pound.
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 USD1,301.60 a troy ounce during European afternoon hours, down 0.60%.
The December contract settled 0.65% lower at USD1,309.40 a troy ounce on Thursday.
Market analysts expect the Fed to start cutting monthly bond purchases by USD10 billion to USD75 billion when it concludes its two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday.
Monthly purchases of Treasuries will be scaled back by USD10 billion to USD35 billion, while mortgage-bond buying will remain unchanged at USD40 billion.
The precious metal is on track to post a loss of nearly 23% on the year as traders bet an improving U.S. economy would lead the Fed to unwind its stimulus program by the year's end.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery declined 0.67% to trade at USD21.648 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery jumped 1.42% to trade at USD3.268 a pound.