Precious-Gold inched up on Tuesday, following yesterday’s drop, amid a status of caution from investors ahead of this week’s Fed meeting outcome.
The focus is predicted to be on the Fed two-day meeting starting today as it would shape the pace at which policymakers would scale back stimulus.
Expectations are in favor of seeing a cut in bond purchases by another $10 billion for the second time in six weeks during this week’s meeting.
The Fed has mentioned that the pace of stimulus reduction would depend on the improvement in the economy.
A report released yesterday showed that U.S. new home sales plunged 7.0 percent in December to 414,000, compared to analysts forecast of a 1.9 percent drop.
Later in the day, eyes will focus on U.S. durable goods for December and consumer confidence for January.
Other important data due today may show that Britain eased expansion to 0.7 percent in the last quarter of 2013 from 0.8 percent growth in the previous three months.
Throughout the previous five weeks, the yellow metal has gained 5.4 percent after falling to the lowest in six months on Dec. 31 on Chinese physical demand due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
Meanwhile, investors prefer to be sidelined till knowing the outcome of the Fed policy meeting.
The yellow metal is currently trading around $1257.25 an ounce after hitting a high of $1260.93 and a low of $1254.75, where the metal probably halted its gains after hitting resistance near $1280 levels while found support yesterday at $1250.
The U.S. dollar ticked down versus a basket of major currencies to hover around 80.58 after hitting a low of 80.46.
Crude oil for March’s delivery rose to trade around $95.86 a barrel from the session’s opening of $95.65.