Gold prices fell sharply on Tuesday, pushing the most active gold futures contract to a six-week closing low, as global stocks rallied amid easing concerns about the crisis in the banking sector.
A somewhat subdued dollar helped limit the yellow metal’s downside. The dollar index moved in a tight range ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement.
The Fed began its two-day meeting today. The central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points 4.75-5%.
The Fed will also release its latest dot-plot projections on interest rates, inflation, unemployment and economic output.
Meanwhile, concerns over the banking crisis ebbed as investors digested a forced takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS over the weekend.
The dollar index, which dropped to 103.00 was flat at 103.28 a little while ago.
Gold futures for April ended lower by $41.70 or about 2.1% at $1,941.10 an ounce.
Silver futures for May ended down $0.221 at $22.425 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $3.9940 per pound, up $0.0425 from the previous close.
A report released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday showed existing home sales in the U.S. rebounded by much more than expected in the month of February.
NAR said existing home sales spiked by 14.5% to an annual rate of 4.58 million in February after falling by 0.7 percent to a rate of 4.00 million in January. Economists had expected existing home sales to climb to an annual rate of 4.17 million.
Existing home sales surged after falling for twelve straight months but were still down by 22.6% compared to the same month a year ago.
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