Gold eases from 2-week high ahead of FOMC minutes

Chicago (Apr 9)  Gold fell back towards $1,300 an ounce on Wednesday ahead of the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, as a firmer dollar and fresh outflows from bullion-backed funds pulled prices off near two-week highs.

Worries over Ukraine, as well as technical momentum after a break above $1,300, helped lift gold nearly 1 percent on Tuesday, but uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy and weak physical and investment appetite curbed that rally.

Spot gold was last at $1,305 an ounce, down 0.2 percent and off an earlier high of $1,314 an ounce. Meanwhile, U.S. gold futures for June delivery dropped 0.2 percent to $1,305 an ounce.

"We're still struggling with the upside in thin trading amid a lack of physical buying or any significant investor interest," Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital, said.

"We had opportunistic longs entering on a rebound off $1,280 with some short covering, but in the long run there is very little agenda for the bulls," he said. "Investors will look elsewhere should developed economies continue to recover."