Investing.com - Gold prices rose to a more than one-week high during Europe's session on Wednesday, after the Bank of Japan announced new monetary policy measures and as investors awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's meeting later in the session.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up $4.10, or 0.31%, to trade at $1,322.30 a troy ounce by 4:35AM ET (08:35GMT). It earlier rose to $1,326.0, the most since September 12.
The Bank of Japan kept rates unchanged at -0.1% following its latest meeting and announced that it would modify its policy framework, marking the latest attempt to boost inflation.
Among the changes, the BOJ said it would introduce yield curve controls, eliminate the maturity range of its bond purchases and abandon its monetary base targets.
Attention now shifts to the Fed's decision. The U.S. central bank is not expected to take action on interest rates at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting at 2:00PM ET (18:00GMT) on Wednesday.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen is to hold what will be a closely-watched press conference 30 minutes after the release of the Fed's statement, as investors look for any hints on a December rate increase.
Markets are currently pricing in just a 15% chance of a rate hike at today's meeting, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool. For December, odds stood at around 60%.
The precious metal is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar in which it is priced. A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six major currencies, was at 96.00 early Wednesday after rising to 96.29 earlier, a level not seen since August 9.
Against the yen, the dollar inched up 0.1% to 101.80, well off the session high of 102.78 touched in wake of the BOJ's announcement.