Gold Futures Settle Lower For The Session, Edge Higher After Fed Announces Policy

Gold prices edged lower on Wednesday and pushed the most active gold futures contracts to a weak close as rising Treasury yields weighed on the commodity.

However, after settling lower for the session, gold futures edged up a bit after the Federal Reserve left its policy rates unchanged and said it is unlikely to hike rates till 2023.

The dollar index, which was staying above the flat line since morning, fell after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged and said a hike is unlikely till 2023. The dollar index was down 0.25% at 91.64 a little while ago.

Gold futures for April ended down $3.80 or about 0.2% at $1,727.10 an ounce.

Silver futures for May ended higher by $0.055 at $26.058 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.1190 per pound, gaining $0.0475.

The Federal Reserve has kep its target range for Federal Funds Rate unchanged at 0% to 0.25%. The central bank has raised forecasts for the economy and inflation, but expects interest rates to remain unchanged through 2023.

A report from the Commerce Department showed new residential construction in the U.S. showed a substantial decrease in the month of February, with housing starts extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous month.

The report said housing starts plummeted by 10.3% to an annual rate of 1.421 million in February after slumping by 5.1% to a revised rate of 1.584 million in January. Economists had expected housing starts to decrease by 0.9% to a rate of 1.565 million from the 1.580 million originally reported for the previous month.

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