Gold Ends Lower Ahead Of Fed Minutes, Strong Dollar

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended lower for a fourth straight session Wednesday, ahead of the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's July policy meeting, with the dollar trending higher against a basket of select currencies.

Investors await for clues to the Fed's interest rate outlook in the wake of recent mixed batch of economic data. The Fed minutes will be out later today.

Markets also await some crucial comments later this week from top bankers at the Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium, including the Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

Meanwhile, the minutes of the Bank of England's August policy meeting showed a couple of members of BOE's policy board to have insisted on a hike in interest rates.

The situation in Ukraine and the Middle East also continued to remain in focus. While concerns over Ukraine have subsided a bit, there seem to be worries about Iraq with reports of some fighting between government forces and militants for control of the Mosul dam.

Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $1.50 or 0.1 percent to close at $1,295.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.

Gold for December delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,299.30 and a low of $1,292.40 an ounce.

On Tuesday, gold futures ended lower for a third successive session, as investors moved to riskier assets, tracking strong global equity markets. A stronger dollar too contributed to the bullion's decline.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved higher to 799.19 tons on Wednesday from its previous close of 797.69 tons on Tuesday.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 82.07 on Wednesday, up from its previous close of 81.87 late Tuesday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 82.12 intraday and a low of 81.87.

The euro ended lower against the dollar at $1.3293 on Wednesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3321 late Tuesday in North American trade. The euro scaled a high of $1.3324 intraday and a low of $1.3276.

In economic news, Bank of England policymakers were split on rate decision this month, for the first time in more than three years as two members said the current economic situation warrant an immediate rate hike from a historic-low. At the August Monetary Policy Committee meeting, two members sought a quarter-point hike in rate to 0.75 percent, while the other seven members voted to keep the rate unchanged at 0.50 percent.

Members were unanimous on holding the rate at 0.50 percent, prevalent since July 2011. The the nine-member board also unanimously voted to leave the asset purchase program unchanged at GBP 375 billion.

Meanwhile, U.K. factory orders grew more than expected in August and manufacturers forecast robust growth in output over the next three months, survey data from the Confederation of British Industry showed Wednesday. About 29 percent of firms reported total order books were above normal and 18 percent said they were below normal, giving a balance of +11 percent. The score increased from +2 in July and above expectations of 4 percent.

Elsewhere, eurozone construction output declined for the second straight month in June, data from Eurostat showed Wednesday. Construction output fell 0.7 percent in June from a month ago. But the rate of decline eased from the 1.4 percent fall registered in May.