©Reuters.
Investing.com — Gold prices fell slightly in Asian trading on Tuesday, but remained above key support levels as markets remained turned off by the precious metal ahead of this week’s key Federal Reserve meeting.
Among industrial metals, copper prices have fallen little by little, but are still on track for an 11-month high after three major increases in the past.
Amid continued uncertainty over the Fed’s stance, bullion prices recovered some lost ground this week, regaining support at $2,150 an ounce on Monday. However, the yellow metal also remained well below its all-time high reached in early March.
By 01:30 ET (5:30 p.m. Japan time), the price fell 0.1% to $2,158.26 an ounce, or $2,161.35 an ounce due in April.
Dollar strengthens ahead of Fed meeting, putting pressure on gold
Anticipation of the Fed meeting and dovish signals from the Bank of Japan kept traders largely biased towards the dollar, making dollar strength a key weight on gold prices.
The stock rose to a two-week high on Tuesday after posting strong gains in the past two sessions.
The Fed is widely expected to do so at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. But markets were wary of hawkish signals from the central bank, particularly a lower outlook for interest rate cuts, following better-than-expected inflation data over the past two months.
A long-term rise in interest rates bodes badly for gold and other precious metals, given that high interest rates drive up the opportunity cost of investing in the sector.
fell 0.7% to $913.15 an ounce and fell 0.3% to $25.192 an ounce.
Copper prices have fallen slightly, but are still near recent peaks.
On the London Metal Exchange, it fell 0.5% to $9,046.0 a tonne and fell 0.6% to $4.1052 a pound.
But the two commodities were still on track to hit 11-month highs on Monday, as the prospect of a shortage in China’s refined copper supplies caused copper prices to soar.
Copper’s rally was further accelerated by better-than-expected data from China, the world’s largest copper importer.
