Gold prices edged up in Asia ahead of a widely expected move by the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates on Wednesday, marking the fist such increase in a year.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gold futures for February delivery rose 0.24% to $1.161.80 a troy ounce. Silver futures edged up 0.12% to $16.998 a troy ounce, while copper futures were quoted flat at $2.597 a pound. Higher interest rates are usually seen as negative for gold, but investors are focused on the tone of the post-meeting press conference on the pace of any hikes in 2017, with some expecting caution from Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
Earlier, the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey showed that an uptick in the sentiment of Japan's major manufacturers, with the headline index at plus-10 in the fourth-quarter, but expected to fall to plus-8 over the next three months.
Overnight, gold prices eased as a leading gold analyst said bearish trend is similar to a scenario that played out last year, when gold fell 18%, and then surged 24%. Some of the volatility can be linked to seasonal demand patterns in the world's top gold buyers, China and India, while inflation concerns are rising on expected heavy fiscal spending under a Trump administration in the U.S.
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