Investing.com - Gold prices edged lower in European hours on Wednesday, holding in a familiar range with traders hesitant to make big bets ahead of a highly anticipated speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later this week.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped $5.65, or 0.42%, to trade at $1,340.45 a troy ounce by 2:47AM ET (06:47GMT). On Tuesday, the yellow metal inched up $2.70, or 0.2%.
Fed Chair Yellen may provide fresh clues on the timing of the next U.S. rate hike at a speech during an annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.
The annual Fed symposium has sometimes been used by Fed chairs to make important policy statements.
Odds for a rate hike as early as next month mounted following hawkish comments from several Fed officials in recent days, including Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer and New York Fed President William Dudley.
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, investors are pricing in an 21% chance of a rate hike by September, up from 12% at the start of last week. December odds were at around 50%.
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 at 94.65 early Wednesday, keeping distance from last week's eight-week low of 94.05.