Investing.com - Gold prices were on the back foot in early dealings on Wednesday, hovering near the lowest levels of the year as investors waited for minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting for clues on the outlook for U.S. interest rates.
Comex gold futures were down around 0.1% at $1,291.10 a troy ounce by 3:20AM ET (0720GMT). It slid to as low as $1,281.20 earlier this week, a level not seen since late December.
The Fed will release minutes of its most recent policy meeting at 2:00PM ET (1800GMT), which may provide further insight into the conversation had by policymakers ahead of their May 2 decision to keep interest rates unchanged.
The minutes will be monitored closely for the Fed's views on inflation and how that can affect the current rate-hiking path.
Investors have fully priced in a rate rise at the Fed's next policy meeting on June 12-13. However, Wall Street is divided over how many more time the central bank will raise interest rates after that.
The U.S. central bank currently forecasts two more rate hikes in 2018, although market expectations of a third move higher before the end of the year has been gaining momentum in recent weeks amid strengthening inflation prospects.
Higher U.S. rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond yields up, make non-yielding assets like bullion less attractive.
Among other precious metals, silver and palladium were both slightly lower at $16.54 an ounce and $985.80 an ounce, respectively.
Platinum dipped 0.4% at $904.90 an ounce.
Meanwhile, copper slumped 0.8% to $3.108 a pound after U.S. President Donald Trump's said he was "not satisfied" with the latest round of trade talks with China.