Gold Ends Higher Ahead Of FOMC Minutes

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended higher on Wednesday, ahead of the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's April meeting due later today. Investors look forward to potential clues as to when an interest rate hike would be made by the Fed.

However, the gains were somewhat limited as the dollar continued to strengthen against some major currencies.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release minutes of its April meeting this afternoon at around 2 p.m., even as markets may downplay the report, given that the meeting occurred before a game-changing retail sales report that suggested lingering weakness in the U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak on Friday at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Luncheon at 1 p.m.

Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $2.00 or 0.2 percent to settle at $1,208.70 an ounce, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.

Gold for June delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,212.50 and a low of $1,202.70 an ounce.

On Tuesday, gold futures ended sharply lower at $1,206.70, down $20.90 or 1.7 percent, a one-week low, as the dollar trended sharply higher against a basket of some select currencies.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, remained unchanged at 718.24 tons from its previous close of 723.91 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 95.61 on Wednesday, up from its previous close of 95.31 on Tuesday in late North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 95.84 intraday and a low of 95.26.

The euro trended lower against the dollar at $1.1094 on Wednesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.1149 in North American trade late Tuesday. The euro scaled a high of $1.1154 intraday and a low of $1.1065.

On the economic front, Bank of England kept its monetary policy stance unchanged unanimously at the meeting held early this month. The meet also suggested the next action would be a hike in interest rate, but such a move is unlikely until 2016. The key interest rate will be kept at a record low of 0.50 percent and asset purchase program at GBP 375 billion.

The leading index for Japan, which measures future economic activity, increased more than initially estimated in March, to 106.0, revised from the preliminary estimate of 105.5. The score for February was 105.3.

Japan's gross domestic product climbed 0.6 percent on quarter in the first quarter of 2015, the Cabinet Office said in Wednesday's preliminary reading. That topped expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent, and it was up from the downwardly revised 0.3 percent rate of growth in the fourth quarter.

Eurozone construction output increased in March, after declining in the previous month, data from Eurostat showed Wednesday. Construction output rose 0.8 percent month-over-month in March, reversing a 1.6 percent decrease in February, which was revised from a 1.8 percent drop reported earlier.

Germany's producer prices declined at a slightly faster-than-expected pace in April, figures from Destatis showed Wednesday. The producer price index fell 1.5 percent year-over-year in April, just above economists' expectations for a 1.4 percent decrease.

UK households' finance outlook worsened for the first time in eight months in May, while their financial woes eased to a record low, results of a survey by Markit Economics and financial information provider Ipsos Mori revealed Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted Markit Household Finance Index rose slightly to 45.8 in May from 45.7 in the previous month.

The United Nations lowered its global economic growth forecast by 0.3 percentage points due to deterioration in the prospects of the economies in transition and several large developing countries, especially in South America, a UN report showed Tuesday.

The growth of world gross domestic product is expected to improve slightly to 2.8 percent in 2015 from 2.6 percent in 2014, a downward revision by 0.3 percentage points from the forecast presented in the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015 (WESP) in January.

The global growth is expected to improve to 3.1 percent in 2016, which is still well below the pre-crisis pace, the report stated. Previously, the global economy was projected to grow by 3.3 percent in 2016.