Gold down slightly in Asia after U.S. gains

               Gold futures declined slightly in the early going of Wednesay’s Asian session after posting a strong performance during Tuesday’s U.S. session. 

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery fell 0.17% to USD1,612.80 per troy ounce in Asian trading Wednesday. Bullion settled up 1.76% at USD1,614.50 a troy ounce in U.S. trading Monday in what was one of the best one-day performances for the yellow metal in weeks. 

Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,574.80 a troy ounce, Monday's low, and resistance at USD1,653.75, the high from Feb. 13. 

Traders ignored Goldman Sachs taking the ax to its gold price targets in the U.S. Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chairman heartened gold bugs by saying the Fed’s quantitative easing program has not jolted U.S. inflation to uncomfortable levels. 

On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs lowered its 2013 price forecast for gold to USD1,600 an ounce from USD1,800. The venerable Wall Street cited gold’s
recent tumble and rising real U.S. interest rates as reasons for the target reduction. 

Gold was also supported by some strong U.S. economic data. In U.S. the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 69.6 in February from a downwardly revised 58.4 in January. Economists expected a February reading of 61. 

The Commerce Department said new home sales rose 15.6% last month to a 4-1/2-year high. In another report, Tthe S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas showed home prices increased by 6.8% in December. 

Elsewhere, market data indicate that Monday marked the fourth consecutive day of outflows from the SPDR Gold Shares, the world’s largest exchange-traded fund backed by physical gold. 

Looking at the other metals, Comex silver for May delivery rose 0.04% to USD29.335 per ounce while copper for May delivery added 0.17% to USD3.594.

Courtesy : INvesting.com