Gold rises slightly ahead of Fed minutes release

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar weakened ahead of the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes from December.

The most active gold contract for February delivery rose 3.3 U.S. dollars, or 0.28 percent, to settle at 1,165.30 dollars per ounce.

The December FOMC minutes were due to be released after the market's close and traders are waiting for the release of those minutes to make major trading decisions.

According to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to at least 0.75 is at 2 percent at the February meeting and 24 percent for the March meeting.

Additionally, the U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, fell by 0.42 percent to 102.78 as of 1830 GMT.

Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.

U.S. equities put some pressure on the precious metal as the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 53.11 points, or 0.27 percent as of 1845 GMT. Analysts note that when equities post losses, the precious metal usually goes up, as investors are looking for a safe haven, while the opposite is true when U.S. equities post gains.

Traders are looking to Thursday for the Automated Data Processing employment report, the weekly jobless claims, and Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index. Friday will see the release of the employment situation report and the international trade report.

Silver for March delivery added 14.3 cents, or 0.87 percent, to close at 16.552 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery rose 3 dollars, or 0.32 percent, to close at 947.20 dollars per ounce. Endit