Gold dipped on Wednesday to a two-week low after a near 1 percent decline in the previous session as increased investor appetite for risk boosted equities and dulled demand for safe-haven assets.
* Spot gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,261.36 per ounce by 0055 GMT. Prices touched a low of 1,260.90 earlier in the session, the lowest since April 11.
* Bullion fell 0.9 percent on Tuesday, the biggest one-day decline since early March.
* U.S. gold futures were down 0.3 percent at $1,262.90 an ounce.
* Asian stocks extended gains for a fifth straight day on Wednesday as Wall Street hit new peaks.
* The Nasdaq Composite hit a record high on Tuesday, while the Dow and S&P 500 brushed against recent peaks as strong earnings underscored the health of corporate America.
* The U.S. military started moving parts of the controversial THAAD anti-missile defence system to a deployment site in South Korea on Wednesday amid high tensions over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.
* U.S. consumer confidence fell from a more than 16-year high in April, but a surge in new home sales to an eight-month high last month suggested underlying strength in the economy.
* The threat of a U.S. government shutdown this weekend appeared to recede on Tuesday after President Donald Trump backed away from a demand that Congress include funding for his planned border wall with Mexico in a spending bill.
* Goldman Sachs, in a note on Monday, said it continues to expect gold to come under pressure in the near term on a potential rally in real interest rates following the expected unveiling of President Trump’s tax policies on Wednesday or later.
* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.69 percent to 854.25 tonnes on Tuesday.
* China’s net-gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong more than doubled month-on-month in March, data showed on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters
