Gold Falls Ahead of FOMC

Gold edged lower on Wednesday as cautious investors awaited a Federal Reserve statement that could give clues on the timing of a U.S. interest rate increase.

Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,178.70 an ounce by 0959 GMT. Platinum fell to its lowest since April 2009 at $1,068.75 an ounce, trading at the cheapest to gold since 2012, with a discount of more than $100 to the yellow metal.

“The Fed policy move will be the trigger for gold prices to fall towards $1,125 or just below that before the end of the year,” Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Lewis said.

“The rate move is a pretty 50/50 call between September and December and it’s very data-dependent.”

All eyes will be on the Fed’s statement due at 1800 GMT after its two-day policy meeting. This will be followed by Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s news conference half an hour later.

Analysts expect her to focus on signs the economy is recovering after a bumpy start to the year and will scrutinise her comments for pointers to the timing of the first U.S. rate rise in nearly a decade.

via Reuters

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