Investing.com - Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday, holding near the prior session's eight-week high as investors await Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech on monetary policy.
Market players also looked ahead to U.S. inflation data later in the day.
Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange held steady at $1,212.65 a troy ounce by 3:15AM ET (08:15GMT), after jumping $16.70, or 1.4%, a day earlier.
Prices of the yellow metal rallied to $1,218.90 on Tuesday, a level not seen since November 22, as the U.S. dollar plunged after President-elect Donald Trump warned that the greenback was “too strong” in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The dollar index was up around 0.3% to 100.51 early Wednesday, not far from the previous session's six-week low of 100.23.
Global financial markets will continue to focus on Trump as he takes the Oath of Office and offers his inaugural address on Friday. Investors will welcome any detail he may give on his promises of tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation, as well as insight regarding policies on China and the domestic economy.
Trump has been credited with being a major catalyst behind the market's impressive rally since election day, although he has yet to outline his economic policies in detail.
Meanwhile, Yellen's speech later on Wednesday to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco could offer fresh clues about the timing of the next rate hike.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams on Tuesday called for a gradual rise in interest rates over the next few years to keep the economy from overheating and ultimately falling into recession.
Separately, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday the U.S. central bank might hike rates more aggressively if deficit spending under the Trump administration produced a quick economic boost.
The precious metal has been well-supported in recent weeks amid uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s pace of interest rate hikes this year.
The Fed had indicated in December that at least three rate increases were in the offing for 2017, according to a forecast of interest rates from members of the central bank, known as the dot-plot.
However, traders remained unconvinced. Instead, markets are pricing in just two rate hikes during the course of this year, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
A delay in raising interest rates would be seen as positive for gold, a non-interest-bearing asset, and negative for the dollar.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery was up 2.0 cents, or about 0.1%, at $17.16 a troy ounce during morning hours in London.
Meanwhile, platinum fell 0.55% to $977.60, while palladium dipped 0.9% to $746.42 an ounce.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper futures dropped 0.2 cents, or 0.1%, to $2.623 a pound.