Investing.com – Gold prices declined on Tuesday, extending losses into a third session, as traders awaited a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting for fresh catalysts.
Comex were down around $6.00, or 0.5%, to $1,334.40 a troy ounce by 3:10AM ET (0810GMT). It fell to a one-week low of $1,332.80 in overnight trade.
Meanwhile, shed 6.2 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.06 a troy ounce, after tumbling 31.4 cents, or 1.8%, a day earlier.
Gold futures as the dollar extended its rebound from a three-year nadir and benchmark Treasury yields cleared their highest level since April 2014.
The continued higher, rising almost 0.3% against a basket of six major currencies to 89.44 in early trade, having pulled up from a low of around 88.25 set last week, its weakest level since December 2014.
U.S. government debt yields also extended recent gains, with the benchmark climbing to its highest level in almost four years at 2.733%.
The Federal Reserve is not expected to take action on interest rates at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting at 2:00PM ET (1900GMT) on Wednesday, keeping it in a range between 1.25%-1.50%.
The central bank will release its post-meeting statement as investors look for any change in language which could point more clearly to a rate hike in the months ahead.
This week’s meeting will be the last under the leadership of Janet Yellen, before she is replaced by Fed Governor Jerome Powell.
The majority of economists believe that the Fed will hike rates in March, followed by another hike in June, with a third move higher arriving in December.
Gold is highly sensitive to rising rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding nonyielding bullion.
Also on the agenda, market players will focus on President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address later on Tuesday. The theme of Trump’s address will be “building a safe, strong and proud America,” a senior administration official told reporters on Friday.
According to the White House, the speech will focus on five main policy areas: jobs and the economy, infrastructure, immigration, trade and national security.
In other metals action, prices slumped 1% to $1,072.15 an ounce.
Sister metal meanwhile dropped 1.6% at $996.40 an ounce.
March shed 0.9% to $3.166 a pound.
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Source: Investing.com
