Gold edged down on Wednesday after early buying driven by weaker stock markets and the US Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates low subsided, while a lack of physical buying also weighed on sentiment. Spot gold fell $1.35 an ounce to $1,200.50 an ounce by 0551 GMT, below a 3-week high of $1,212.61 hit last week and the 50-day moving average at $1,209.54.
It had hit an intraday high around $1,204 on Wednesday. The metal ignored a flurry of data from China, which showed that investment and factory output slowed further last month as Beijing steered credit growth back to normal after a record lending spree in 2009. Silver was steady, while platinum group metals bounced from lows.