Gold prices were steady on Tuesday within a tight range as investors adopted a wait-and-watch approach ahead of a two-day monetary policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve. Spot gold was up about 0.1 percent at $1,222.15 an ounce at 0705 GMT while US gold futures were 0.1 percent lower at $1,220.70 an ounce.
At the meeting that ended on Tuesday, the BoJ took measures to make its massive stimulus programme more flexible and pledged to keep interest rates "very low" for the time being. Later in the day, the US Federal Reserve begins a two-day monetary policy meeting. The central bank is widely expected to stand pat on monetary policy, but investors will be paying close attention to the central bank's tone for cues on the pace of further interest rate hikes.
"There's no clear direction for investors to really play on, and I suppose until there's a bit more clarity from the US Federal Reserve in particular, I think that's going to remain the case," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said. Spot gold is biased to fall into a range of $1,206-$1,214 per ounce, according to Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao.