Investing.com - Gold futures were little changed near a three-week high on Wednesday, as investors stuck to the sidelines ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony to Congress later in the day. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery traded at USD1,285.15 a troy ounce during European morning hours, down 0.4% on the day. Comex gold prices held in a tight range between USD1,283.65, the daily low and a session high of USD1,292.65 a troy ounce. Comex gold prices rose to a three-week high of USD1,297.05 a troy ounce on July 11. Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,237.05 a troy ounce, the low from July 8 and near-term resistance at USD1,301.75, the high from June 21. Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress later in the day, amid ongoing speculation over the timing of a possible reduction to the Fed’s USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program. The Fed chief was expected to reiterate that the central bank could start scaling back its asset purchase program by the end of this year if the economy continues to pick up, but interest rates will remain at record lows for the foreseeable future. Gold prices rallied 5% last week, the biggest weekly gain since October 2011, after Bernanke said the central bank will continue to maintain accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future. The precious metal is on track to post a loss of 23% on the year amid speculation the Fed will start to unwind its stimulus program by the year's end. Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its quantitative easing program sooner-than-expected. Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery fell 0.8% to trade at USD19.77 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery tumbled 1.4% to trade at USD3.143 a pound.

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