Investing.com - Gold prices eased off the previous session’s five-week high on Tuesday, as market players looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting, due to begin later in the day. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at USD1,344.90 a troy ounce during European morning trade, down 0.55%. Prices traded in range between USD1,340.30 a troy ounce, the daily low and a session high of USD1,360.20 a troy ounce. The December contract rose to USD1,361.80 on Monday, the strongest level since September 20, before closing at USD1,352.20, little changed on the day. Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,310.10 a troy ounce, the low from October 22 and near-term resistance at USD1,366.50, the high from September 20. The Fed bank is scheduled to start its two-day policy-meeting later Tuesday, with market analysts expecting the central bank to keep its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program on track. Data released on Monday showed that U.S. pending home sales fell 5.6% in September, down for the fourth consecutive month. The disappointing data underlined expectations that the Fed will maintain its stimulus program well into 2014 to support the economy. Gold prices have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the Fed would start tapering its USD85-billion-a-month asset-purchase program by the end of the year. U.S. data releases will also be in focus, with reports on retail sales and consumer confidence due later in the day. Gold traders have closely been looking out for U.S. data reports recently to gauge if they will strengthen or weaken the case for the Fed to reduce its bond purchases. Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery shed 0.75% to trade at USD22.36 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery was little changed to trade at USD3.270 a pound.

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