FX.co ★ Gold Futures Settle Lower Ahead Of Fed Rate Decision

Gold prices drifted lower on Wednesday, although the downside was limited as the dollar stayed weak ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

The dollar index dropped to 103.64, losing about 0.33%.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rate by 50 basis points. However, the recent data showing consumer price inflation edged up by less than expected in the month of November has raised hopes that the central bank will start slowing down the pace of rate hikes.

Gold futures for February ended lower by $6.80 or about 0.4% at $1,818.70 an ounce.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.146 at $24.136 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.8780 per pound, up $0.0360 from the previous close.

A report from the Labor Department showed import prices declined for the fifth consecutive month in November. The report said import prices slid by 0.6% in November after falling by a revised 0.4% in October.

Economists had expected import prices to decrease by 0.5% compared to the 0.2% dip originally reported for the previous month.

The annual rate of import prices growth slowed from 4.2% in October to 2.7% in November, which reflected the slowest year-over-year growth since January 2021.