Gold slightly lower ahead of Fed minutes

Investing.com - Gold futures traded slightly lower in the early part of Wednesday’s Asian session as traders take a pensive approach to the yellow metal ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent monetary policy meeting. Those minutes are due out later Wednesday.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for September delivery fell 0.20% to USD1,369.70 per troy ounce in Asian trading Wednesday. The September contract settled higher by 0.51% at USD1,372.50 per ounce on Tuesday.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,315.40 a troy ounce, Wednesday's low, and resistance at USD1,384.00, Monday's high.

Traders are hoping that the release of minutes from the Fed’s July policy meeting will provide some clues about the central bank’s next move regarding its quantitative easing program.

Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases tend to weaken the dollar by driving down interest rates, making gold an attractive hedge while such policies remain in place. While the Fed has been easing for all of this year, gold futures have plunged until recently catching a bid amid bargain hunting and robust physical demand in Asia.

In U.S. economic news out Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s national activity index for July hit -0.15 from a revised -0.23 in June, though the number came in much worse than market expectations for a -0.10.

The number was the latest in a series of tepid U.S. data points that have helped stoke speculation the world’s largest economy is not yet strong enough for the Fed to withdraw stimulus.

Elsewhere, Comex silver for September delivery fell 0.46% to USD22.965 per ounce while copper for September delivery fell 0.20% to USD3.326 per ounce.