Investing.com - Gold prices edged modestly higher on Monday, but held near the previous session's five-week low, with attention is turning to this week's Federal Reserve policy meeting for stronger clues on when the U.S. central bank will start raising rates.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery tacked on $5.90, or 0.5%, to trade at $1,180.90 a troy ounce during European morning hours. Futures held in a tight range between $1,177.70 and $1,182.80.
On Friday, gold slumped to $1,174.10, a level not seen since March 20, before ending at $1,175.00, down $19.30, or 1.62%. Gold prices dropped $29.40, or 2.34%, last week, the second straight weekly loss and the biggest decline in seven weeks.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,168.70, the low from March 20, and resistance at $1,203.70, the high from April 21.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for July delivery rose 15.5 cents, or 0.99%, to trade at $15.83 a troy ounce. Silver touched a low of $15.55 on Friday, the weakest level since March 18.
Market players will focus on the conclusion of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, which could provide indications on how soon it might raise interest rates.
Investors will also be looking ahead to preliminary data on first quarter U.S. growth figures on Wednesday for further indications on the strength of the economy.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.1% to trade at 97.17 early on Monday, moving off the previous session's three-week low of 96.90.
The index ended the week down 0.62%, the second straight weekly drop, as a recent run of disappointing economic data dampened optimism over the economic recovery, fuelling speculation the Fed could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for July delivery inched up 1.3 cents, or 0.49%, to trade at $2.767 a pound.
Copper rallied 5.4 cents, or 2.0%, on Friday to settle at $2.748 amid speculation policymakers in China will have to introduce further stimulus measures to jumpstart the economy amid lackluster growth.
China is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption.