Gold treads lower ahead of Fed minutes

BENGALURU - 15 August 2017: Gold prices tread lower on Wednesday as the dollar steadied, with investors awaiting minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last meeting in July for clues on the pace of potential interest rate hikes.

Spot gold had slipped 0.2 percent to $1,269.11 per ounce by 0712 GMT, following two sessions of falls.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery were down about 0.4 percent at $1,274.90 an ounce.

Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting are due later in the day.

"The bullish dollar is shifting the focus away from the safe havens," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets.

"The increasing odds of the U.S. interest rate hike could push the gold price below the $1,250 level and this could happen if the upcoming FOMC minutes deliver some hawkish tone."

Higher interest rates could boost the dollar, making commodities priced in the greenback more expensive for holders of other currencies.

The dollar index was little changed at 93.895.

The dollar hoarded hefty gains on Wednesday after strong U.S. retail sales revived the chance of another Federal Reserve rate hike this year, while Asia stocks inched ahead as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delayed a decision on firing missiles towards Guam.

"We probably saw some of the selling (in gold) that came in as tensions eased between North Korea and the United States become a bit overdone. Certainly, the underlying issues that started emerging last week are far from evaporated," said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes.

Spot gold may test a resistance at $1,278 per ounce, a break above which could lead to a gain to the next resistance at $1,286, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.1 percent at $16.61 per ounce and platinum rose 0.26 percent to $959.50 per ounce.

Palladium was mostly unchanged at $885.25 after touching its lowest in over a week earlier in the session.