Gold edged up on Thursday after two straight days of deep losses, but gains were capped as receding hopes of further US monetary stimulus took the sheen off bullion's appeal as a hedge against inflation. Bullion lost more then 3 percent over the past two days after the US Federal Reserve released minutes from its last policy meeting which showed policy makers were less inclined to launch more monetary stimulus as the economic outlook gradually improves.
Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,626.01 an ounce by 0635 GMT, off a near three-month low of $1,611.80 hit in the previous session. US gold gained 0.8 percent to $1,627.40.