Off the wire
• Urgent: Oil prices drop on ample supplies  • Urgent: Gold down as U.S. central bank begins meeting  • LME base metals decrease mostly on Tuesday  • Egypt tightens visa procedures for individual tourists  • Moscow slams Kiev for diversion of Minsk peace agreements  • Energy sector lifts British FTSE 100 on Tuesday  • Ukraine amends law on granting "special status" to eastern regions  • Spanish stock market falls 0.78 pct, closes at 11,028 points  • China, Nepal jointly invest 300 mln dollars on cement project  • U.S. House Republican leadership calls for "third party" review on Clinton's emails  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Gold down as U.S. central bank begins meeting

Xinhua, March 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Tuesday as the U.S. Federal Reserve began their monthly Open Market Committee meeting.

The most active gold contract for April delivery fell 5 U.S. dollars, or 0.43 percent, to settle at 1,148.20 dollars per ounce.

Gold was put under pressure as the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, began their monthly two-day meeting on Tuesday. Some analysts believe that in the wake of positive economic data, the Fed will remove the word "patient" from their description of when they will consider raising interest rates.

Raising interest rates decreases demand for gold as the precious metal does not bear any interest. Analysts believe the removal of the word "patient" would open up an increase in the interest rate as early as June.

Gold was given support as a report from the U.S. Census showed housing starts falling sharply in February. This report was worse- than-expected as housing starts fell 17.0 percent in February, after no change in January. Analysts say this is the lowest level of the measure since January 2014.

Silver for May delivery dropped 3.9 cents, or 0.25 percent, to close at 15.578 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery fell 14.2 dollars, or 1.28 percent, to close at 1,093.70 dollars per ounce. Endite