Gold prices eked out a small gain on Wednesday to snap a four-day losing streak, boosted by a drop in the dollar and bargain hunting with prices near a one-month low. The precious metal fell 1 percent in the previous session, and lost nearly 4 percent in the past four days.
"Gold's negative price reaction to the possibility of a December Fed tapering indicates to us that the bullion market is likely to remain sensitive to expectations for changes in monetary policy," said James Steel, chief metals analyst at HSBC. Spot gold gained 0.2 percent to $1,269.84 an ounce by 2:22 pm.
US Comex gold futures for December delivery underperformed spot gold, settling down $2.80 at $1,268.40 an ounce. Trading volume was 20 percent below its 250-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Silver dropped 1 percent at $20.49 an ounce after dropping 3 percent in the previous session to a four-week low. Platinum was down 0.3 percent at $1,425.90 an ounce and palladium fell 1 percent to $729.75 an ounce.