LONDON—The spot price of gold was little changed but silver continued to lose ground ahead of the afternoon's much-anticipated news conference with U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Mr. Bernanke's conference at 1630 GMT follows the close of a two-day meeting by the Federal Open Market Committee and is expected to shed light on the Fed's stance toward interest rates in the country and its $600 billion quantitative easing program, due to end in June.
While the Fed isn't expected to announce any immediate changes to its loose monetary policy, gold could be in for some further consolidation before it reacquaints itself with its most recent record highs, analysts said.
Gold and silver, which are often seen as hedge against weak paper currencies, have benefited from the U.S.'s ultra-easy monetary policy in recent years and fear of an impending shift to a tighter policy has kept many market players cautious.
"It's fair to say that the Fed will likely continue with its current monetary policy, and while this will likely spark many to re-enter the market, I wouldn't be surprised if gold pulls back further before moving higher," said Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet.
Ahead of the New York day, spot gold was off just 10 cents at $1,507 a troy ounce, while silver was down another 29 cents, or 0.6%, at $45.31 an ounce. It plunged Tuesday after fliting with $50 on Monday.
Spot platinum was up $2, or 0.1%, to $1,806 an ounce, while spot palladium was unchanged at $752 an ounce.
