Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday, as gains were limited by rising Wall Street stocks and strong US industrial production data fed investor caution about bullion a day after prices fell nearly 2 percent. Gold traded around its key 200-day moving average support near $1,300 an ounce after a US government report showed industrial production rose faster than expected in March.
"There is room for specs to cut back further, and with increasingly limited liquidity ahead of the holidays, it wouldn't take as much to get prices moving south," said UBS precious metals strategist Edel Tully. The US gold market will be shut on Friday for the Good Friday holiday.
Spot gold inched up 42 cents to $1,302.46 an ounce by 3 pm EDT (1900 GMT), following Tuesday's 1.8 percent drop on heavy technical selling after prices fell below the 200-day moving average. US COMEX gold futures for June delivery settled up $3.20 an ounce at $1,303.50, with trading volume about 35 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Among other precious metals, silver edged up 0.2 percent to $19.61 an ounce, having hit a 2-1/2-month low at $19.24 an ounce in the previous session. Platinum climbed 0.1 percent to $1,435.80 an ounce, while palladium rose 1 percent to $799.25 an ounce.