Gold turned higher as the dollar shifted lower on Wednesday, after minutes from the last US Federal Reserve meeting showed uncertainty among policymakers about the new Trump administration's economic program. Still, many Fed policymakers said it may be appropriate to raise interest rates "fairly soon" should jobs and inflation data come in line with expectations, minutes of their Jan. 31-Feb. 1 policy meeting showed.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,237.48 an ounce by 2:56 pm EST (1956 GMT), while US gold futures settled down 0.5 percent at $1,233.30, prior to the release of the minutes. The US dollar, which was boosted by hawkish comments from various Fed officials in the previous session, turned lower after the minutes were released.
"Gold rallied after the January Fed minutes suggested that voting members were relaxed about having 'ample' time to respond to inflation pressure," said Tai Wong, director of base and precious metals trading for BMO Capital Markets in New York. "It remains to be seen if their sanguine outlook has given the recently tentative gold bull the testosterone shot it needs to break decisively higher." Investors were also looking ahead to an address by US President Donald Trump to Congress next week at which he is expected to announce tax policies.
Spot silver rose 0.6 percent at $18.04 an ounce, and platinum rose 0.3 percent at $1,002.45. Palladium dropped 1.6 percent to $766.75. "Strength in palladium is still remarkable given that car sales have been somewhat weak in January, especially in China," said Carsten Menke, commodities research analyst at Julius Baer in Switzerland. "I'd say that palladium prices and sentiment should come under pressure once we get more evidence that China is indeed weaker."