Gold edged lower on Tuesday in volume as investors strong US home prices and consumer confidence data kept investors cautious before policy meetings at the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank later this week. Bullion investors took profits after data showed US home prices rose in February at their fastest rate in almost seven years, and another report showed US consumer confidence rebounded in April.
Despite those encouraging reports, data showing contraction in US Midwest business activity raised hopes that the Fed will keep its pace of bond buying at $85 billion a month throughout this year, analysts said. Gold dropped 0.2 percent to $1,473.54 by 2:58 pm (1858 GMT). US Comex gold futures for June delivery settled up $4.70 at $1,472.10 an ounce, with trading volume about 35 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.
Silver fell 1.3 percent to $24.19 an ounce. The SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.2 percent to 1,080.64 tonnes on Monday to their lowest since September 2009. Among platinum group metals, platinum eased 0.2 percent to $1,503.50 an ounce, while palladium was also down 0.2 percent to $695.22.
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