Gold Settles Lower Before Fed Decision

CHICAGO, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile closed modestly lower on Wednesday, as investors opted to book their profits in anticipation of an unfavorable decision to be announced by U.S. Federal Reserve.

The most active gold contract for Dec. delivery declined one U. S. dollars, or 0.055 percent, to 1,808.1 dollars per ounce.

Market analysts said that gold investors, expecting that the Fed is unlikely to bring another round of quantitative easing (QE3) program, disappointingly opted to cash in their profits. Gold hiked more than 30 dollars on Tuesday.

The Fed later announced a plan to swap shorter-maturity government securities for longer-term ones, in a bid to boosting the slow-moving U.S. economy. However, the market widely hoped it would carry out QE3, which could push down the value of U.S. dollar and thus, is conducive to the metal market.

Most analysts still believed that gold would keep the bullish running in the long run, as the supportive forces, including economic slowdown and inflation pickup, remained intact.

However, silver for Dec. delivery rose 33.2 U.S. cents, or 0.8 percent, to 40.469 dollars per ounce. Platinum for Oct. delivery also gained 6.3 dollars, or 0.35 percent, to 1,788.2 dollars per ounce.