By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Gold futures struggled higher on Wednesday as a firm U.S. dollar and concerns about global economic health constrained buyers. Gold futures for delivery in December GCZ2 -0.11% edged up 0.1%, or $1, to $1,766 an ounce in electronic trading. The yellow metal’s most actively traded contract, which has lost ground for three consecutive days after hitting an intraday high of $1,796.50 on Thursday, were contained in a narrow range between $1,762 and $1,767.60 during Asian hours. In the regular session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight, gold futures dropped $10.70, or 0.6%. “With the market stumbling in sight of $1,800 an ounce, we believe that the path of least resistance is lower, at least in the near term,� HSBC analysts led by James Steel wrote in a note to clients. The analysts said that although bullish calls on gold had nearly doubled in the past two months and stockpiles at exchange-traded funds have risen to record levels, additional monetary-policy easing in the U.S. and other countries was no longer fresh news. “We do not anticipate further significant buying of gold based on monetary-policy accommodation alone. In this light, the bullion market price could drop to $1,750 an ounce or lower in the near term,� they added. The ICE dollar index DXY +0.11% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major global currencies, rose to 80.021 by late afternoon in Hong Kong from 79.973 in North America late on Tuesday. Other metals were lower. December futures for silver SIZ2 -0.53% dropped by 0.3% to $33.89 an ounce. For palladium PAZ2 -1.25% delivered that month, futures fell 0.4% to $655.85 an ounce. Copper futures HGZ2 -0.55% for December eased 0.4% to $3.71 a pound. Platinum futures for delivery in January PLF3 -1.61% shed 0.6% to $1,685.40 an ounce. Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.

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