The price of gold was ticking lower Wednesday morning, with the US dollar recovering from its recent losses ahead of the testimony by the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in front of the US Congress, later today.
Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, eased $5.20 to $1285.20 an ounce. Yesterday, gold settled higher tracking declining global equity markets as investors awaited cues from the testimony of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke before lawmakers later this week.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved down to 937.57 tons from 939.07 tons.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was lingering around its one-month low versus the euro and the Swiss franc, while trading near a two-week low against sterling. The buck was flat versus the yen.
In economic news, euro zone construction output fell 0.3 percent month-on-month in May, following a 1 percent rise in April, Eurostat reported. On a yearly basis, construction output declined 5.1 percent, but slower than the 6.8 percent drop seen in April.
The number of people claiming jobless allowance in the UK declined more than expected in June, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The claimant count for June was 1.48 million, down 21,200 from May. Economists expected the figure to fall by 8,000. The claimant count rate edged down to 4.4 percent in June from 4.5 percent in May.
Elsewhere, the prices of silver and platinum were trading lower in morning deals.
From the U.S., the Commerce Department will release its housing starts report for June at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect housing starts to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 951,000 in June, while building permits are expected at 990,000.
Bernanke is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington at 10 a.m. ET. Additionally, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its Beige Book report at 2 pm ET.
