Precious-Gold resumed its drop for a third day on Wednesday amid expectations the Fed would continue with stimulus reduction, thereby denting demand on the metal as an inflation hedge.
This week, eyes turned from Ukraine turmoil to fundamentals once again, where today full concentration will be in the Fed-meeting outcome.
The two-day meeting, which will be followed by a statement by Fed Chairman Janet Yellen, will show the seriousness of policymakers regarding their stimulus reduction plan.
Although the recovery path in the world’s biggest economy has weakened, expectations are in favor of seeing further cut in stimulus by slashing another $10 billion to a total of $55 billion.
Yellen may announce a change in forward guidance, after unemployment rate has come close to the 6.5 percent threshold.
On the political front, Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Crimea as a sovereign state, following Sunday’s referendum which got more than 96 percent vote to join Russia, revealing that he did not intend to split Ukraine further.
The United States and European Union are on track to impose personal sanctions on Russian and Crimean officials involved in the split of Crimea from Ukraine.
The yellow metal gained 3.2 percent last week on geopolitical tension and slowdown in China, yet it has lost more than 2 percent before the Fed announcement.
Meanwhile, the yellow metal is trading around $1353.27 an ounce after hitting a high of $1359.48 and a low of $1350.97.
The U.S. dollar inched up against a basket of major currencies to hover around 79.55 after opening at 79.51, according to the dollar index.
Crude oil for April’s delivery ticked up to $99.53 a barrel from the session’s opening of $99.46.
