Gold rebounds from 4-week low on bargain buying, Fed taper fears remain

              Gold futures came off the previous session’s four-week low on Wednesday, as investors returned to the market to seek cheap valuations.

Gains were likely to remain limited amid growing speculation the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its asset purchase program at its December policy meeting. 

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at USD1,274.30 a troy ounce during European morning trade, up 0.25%. 

Comex gold prices traded in a range between USD1,265.10 a troy ounce, the daily low and a session high of USD1,276.40 a troy ounce.

The December contract tumbled to USD1,260.50 a troy ounce on Tuesday, the lowest since October 15, before settling at USD1,271.20, down 0.77%.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,251.10 a troy ounce, the low from October 15 and resistance at USD1,287.70, the high from November 11.

Tuesday’s losses came after Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said the central bank could begin to reduce the pace of its bond-buying program as soon as December. 

Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher also warned about a stimulus reduction, saying “at some point we will have to taper.”

Speculation that the Fed may start to taper its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program as soon as next month mounted after official data last week showed that the U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, much more than the 125,000 increase forecast by economists. 

Investors were turning their attention to Thursday’s Senate hearing to confirm Janet Yellen as the first chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, for indications on the future course of U.S. monetary policy.

Gold prices are down approximately 25% this year on concerns the Fed will begin to scale back its stimulus sooner than expected.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery inched up 0.1% to trade at USD20.79 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery tumbled 1% to trade at USD3.201 a pound, the lowest since September 17.

Copper traders were disappointed with the lack of concrete details on policy reforms announced at China's Third Plenum meeting, which concluded on Tuesday. 

Leaders pledged to let markets play a decisive role in the economy over the next decade, but no further details were provided.

The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year. - investing.com