WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled marginally higher on Wednesday, after recording a fresh eight-month high, ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.
Post policy announcement from the central bank, the yellow metal edged further up north as the greenback eased after the Fed left rate unchanged and said it would be 'patient' on rates.
Gold's upside was limited as concerns about the U.S. economy faded a bit after data from ADP showed a bigger than expected increase in private-sector jobs growth in January.
Traders, amid expectations that the Fed will not hike interest rates today, stayed bullish on gold. The dollar index, which was a bit subdued ahead of ADP data, moved closer to 96.00 after data showed a bigger than expected increase in private sector jobs growth.
Gold futures for February ended up $1.00 at $1,309.90 an ounce. Gold futures for April ended up $0.30, at $1,315.50 an ounce.
The report from payroll processor ADP showed the pace of job growth slowed in January but still far exceeded analyst estimates.
ADP said private sector employment jumped by 213,000 jobs in January after soaring by a downwardly revised 263,000 jobs in December.
Economists had expected employment to increase by about 178,000 jobs compared to the spike of 271,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, a report from the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly showed a continued decrease in U.S. pending home sales in the month of December. NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled by 2.2% to 99.0 in December after falling by 0.9% to a downwardly revised 101.2 in November. Economists had expected the index to climb by 0.5%.
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