Investing.com - Gold futures struggled on Tuesday, as investors looked ahead to reports on the U.S housing sector later in the day for further clues on the strength of the economy and the future path of interest rates.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up $1.10, or 0.09%, to trade at $1,173.90 a troy ounce during European morning hours.
A day earlier, gold lost $10.30, or 0.87%, on bets the Federal Reserve could still raise U.S. rates this year.
Investors have been trying to gauge when the Fed will raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade after recent economic reports offered a mixed picture of the U.S. economic growth.
Gold rallied to a four-month peak of $1,191.70 last week amid speculation the U.S. central bank will not raise rates until sometime next year, with weak economic reports on retail sales and manufacturing activity feeding that view.
However, upbeat data on inflation and consumer sentiment towards the end of last week prompted investors to pare bets that Fed policymakers will wait until next year to hike rates.
The Commerce Department is expected to report at 8:30AM Eastern Time Tuesday that housing starts rose 1.2% in September to 1.140 million, while building permits are forecast to drop 0.9% to 1.160 million.
The timing of a Fed rate hike has been a constant source of debate in the markets in recent months. The U.S. central bank has two more scheduled policy meetings before the end of the year, in late-October and mid-December.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on 0.1 cents, or 0.03%, to hit $2.368 a pound during morning hours in London.
Chinese government data on Monday showed third-quarter economic growth slowed to 6.9%, the first time since the global financial crisis that the country’s gross domestic product has grown less than 7%.
A separate report showed that industrial production rose by an annualized rate of 5.7% in September, below expectations for a 6.0% increase and following a gain of 6.1% in the preceding month.
Data on fixed asset investment also missed forecasts, reinforcing views that Beijing will roll out further support measures soon for the world's second largest economy.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption.