Gold Stays Dim With Fed In Focus

Frankfurt (Dec 11)   Gold futures are trading dull in the early Europe session today, with the volumes turning low ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve policy decision.

Gold for February delivery is trading down $4.60, or 0.4%, to $1,256.50 an ounce in electronic trading. Yesterday, it gained $26.90, or 2.2%, to settle at $1,261.10 an ounce, the highest close for a most-active contract since Nov. 19.

Today, the ICE dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rival units, inched up to 79.983 from late Tuesday’s 79.976.

Yesterday, the euro hit a six-week high against the dollar as traders reconsidered whether the Fed would trim its monthly purchases of $85 billion in bonds at its two-day meeting next week.

Also the euro hit a five-year peak against the yen yesterday. The euro gained for a sixth straight day versus the greenback and was within sight of this year's high of $1.3832.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 52.40 points, or 0.33%, at 15,973.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 5.75 points, or 0.32%, to 1,802.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 8.26 points, or 0.20%, to 4,060.49.

MCX February bullion futures opened the session higher on lower open in the Indian Rupee. The February dated contract was seen trading at Rs 29565 up Rs 30 per 10 grams.

The Indian Rupee commenced lower by 19 paise at Rs 61.23 against the US dollar and fell further to a low of 61.42 so far during the day.