Gold fluctuates near 3-month high with Fed stimulus in focus

           Gold prices fluctuated between small gains and losses in rangebound trade on Wednesday, as comments made by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday continued to support the precious metal.

Gold prices last traded at USD1,289.30 an ounce during U.S. morning hours, down 0.05%.On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery held in a range between USD1,284.10 a troy ounce and USD1,292.30 an ounce.

Gold futures rallied to USD1,294.40 an ounce on Tuesday, the most since November 8, before trimming gains to settle at USD1,289.80, up 1.18%.

Prices were likely to find support at USD1,264.70 a troy ounce, the low from February 10 and resistance at USD1,313.30, the high from November 8.

Meanwhile, silver for March delivery inched up 0.25% to trade at USD20.20 a troy ounce. The March contract settled 0.2% higher on Tuesday to end at USD20.15 an ounce.

In her first congressional testimony on Tuesday, Fed Chair Yellen said that the central bank would taper the pace of its asset purchases at future meetings if the economy continued to improve as expected.

She added that the pace of the central bank’s bond purchases are not on a “preset course”, while reiterating that Fed plans to hold interest rates at zero “well past” the time the jobless rate falls below 6.5%.

The testimony is coming amid fresh concerns over the outlook for the recovery, following the weakest two-month stretch of U.S. job creation in three years in December and January.

The Fed tapered its monthly asset purchase program by another USD10 billion to USD65 billion a month at its last policy meeting.

Elsewhere on the Comex, copper futures for March delivery rose 0.85% to trade at USD3.243 a pound.

Data released earlier showed that China’s trade surplus widened to USD31.86 billion last month from a surplus of USD25.6 billion in December, compared to estimates for a surplus of USD23.65 billion.

Chinese exports climbed 10.6% from a year earlier, beating expectations for a 2% increase and following a 4.3% gain in December. Imports rose 10%, compared to forecasts for a 3% increase.

According to the data, the Asian nation imported a record-high 536,000 tons of anode, refined copper, alloy and semi-finished copper products in January, up 21% from December.

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