NEW YORK/LONDON: Gold was largely flat on Wednesday as traders digested the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting which showed few clues about the timing to scale back its bond-buying stimulus.
Trading was choppy in a less-liquid afternoon session in New York as the US central bank's statement showed a few Fed policymakers thought last month it would soon be time to slow the pace of their bond buying "somewhat" but others counselled patience.
Investors are anxiously waiting to see when the Fed will start to slow its $85 billion monthly asset purchases, with most predicting September as the beginning of the end of the quantitative easing program.
Gold prices seesawed after the Fed minutes, largely tracking movements in US equities. A rise in US Treasury yields, seen as a gauge of interest rates, appears to weigh down on precious metals and equities across the board.
"The Fed minutes didn't disclose any information about the anticipated tapering. Gold was initially helped by short covering but its rally faded with the bond yields rising," said Frank McGhee, head precious metals trader at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC.
Spot gold eased 25 cents to $1,370.42 an ounce by 3:24 p.m. EDT (1924 GMT).
US Comex gold futures for December delivery settled down $2.50 an ounce at $1,370.10, with trading volume about 20 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.
Among other precious metals, silver was last up 0.4 percent at $23.09 an ounce. Platinum edged up 0.1 percent to $1,514.49 an ounce, while palladium eased 0.2 percent at $745.22 an ounce.
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