Investing.com - Gold prices edged lower during European morning hours on Wednesday, as market players looked ahead to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting for further hints on the timing and pace of future rate hikes.
U.S. gold futures shed $3.65, or about 0.3%, to $1,235.35 a troy ounce by 3:05AM ET (08:05GMT), after ending Tuesday's session little changed. Spot gold was down 0.1% at $1,234.65 per ounce.
The Federal Reserve will release minutes of its most recent policy meeting on Wednesday at 2:00PM ET (19:00GMT).
The U.S. central bank held interest rates steady following its meeting on February 1 and painted a relatively upbeat picture of the economy, although it gave no firm signal on the timing of its next rate move amid considerable uncertainty over economic policy under the Donald Trump administration.
Besides the Fed minutes, there are two Fed speakers Wednesday. Fed Governor Jerome Powell speaks at 1:00PM ET (18:00GMT) in New York at the Forecasters Club of New York on the economic outlook and policy. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan discusses issues facing the global economy at a Dallas Fed event at 7:05PM ET.
On the data front, Wednesday's calendar features existing home sales at 10AM ET (15:00GMT).
Fed fund futures priced in about a 22% chance of a rate hike in March, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool. Odds of a May increase was seen at around 50%, while June odds were at 73%.
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.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.2% to 101.60 in London morning trade, within sight of last week's more than one-month high of 101.75.
Meanwhile, 10-year U.S. government bond yields were steady at 2.443%.
Both a strong dollar and higher interest rates are typically bearish for gold, which is denominated in dollars and struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when borrowing costs rise.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery dipped 3.3 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.96 a troy ounce.
Meanwhile, platinum was down 0.2% to $1,004.50, while palladium inched up 0.2%, to $779.92 an ounce.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures shed 2.2 cents, or about 0.8%, to $2.724 a pound, despite concerns over supply disruptions in Chile and Indonesia supported prices.
Prices of the red metal rallied to a 20-month peak of $2.822 last week after strikes at BHP Billiton (LON:BLT)'s Chilean Escondida and Freeport McMoran (NYSE:FCX)'s Indonesian Grasberg mine.
Combined, the mines produce roughly 10% of the world's total copper supply.