WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices moved higher on Tuesday, extending recent gains, with the dollar turning subdued ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, due on Wednesday.
The dollar index, which advanced to 98.21 by late morning after opening slightly below the flat line, pared its gains and dropped to 98.05 later on.
Gold futures for August ended up $9.30, or about 0.7%, at $1,429.70 an ounce.
December gold futures, the most actively traded contract, ended up $8.50, or 0.6%, at $1,441.80 an ounce.
On Monday, gold futures for August ended at $1,420.40 an ounce, gaining $1.10, or 0.8%.
Silver futures for September ended up $0.118, at $16.558 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled lower by $0.0390, at $2.6875 per pound.
The Fed is likely to cut the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points when its two-day policy meeting ends on Wednesday.
Investors are awaiting the monetary policy statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference for clues on outlook for future interest rates.
Gold's uptick was also due to uncertainty about U.S.-China trade pact following Trump lashing out at China in a series of posts on Twitter.
In economic releases today, a report from the National Association of Realtors released a report on Tuesday showing pending home sales in the U.S. spiked by much more than expected in the month of June.
NAR said its pending home sales index surged up by 2.8% to 108.3 in June after jumping by 1.1% to 105.4 in May. Economists had expected pending home sales to rise by 0.5%.
A report from the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index surged up to 135.7 in July after tumbling to a revised 124.3 in June. Economists had expected the index to climb to 125.0 from the 121.5 originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, a report from the Commerce Department showed personal income in the U.S. climbed by 0.4% in June, matching the downwardly revised increase in May.
Economists had expected income to rise by 0.4% compared to the 0.5% growth originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said personal spending rose by 0.3% in June after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5% in May. Personal spending had been expected to increase by 0.3% compared to the 0.4% advance originally reported for the previous month.
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