SINGAPORE, April 10 - Gold edged up on Wednesday as Japan's aggressive monetary easing policy boosted bullion's appeal as a hedge against inflation, although gains may be capped as stronger equities lure buyers seeking better returns away.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold added $1.57 an ounce to $1,586.27 by 0041 GMT after hitting $1,590 on Tuesday, its highest since April 2.
* U.S. gold for June delivery was steady at $1,586.50 an ounce.
* Gold futures on Tokyo Commodity Exchange moved towards a lifetime high at 5,081 yen a gram hit in February because of a weak yen, but gains on TOCOM failed to spur more gains in cash gold.
* Investors will closely monitor minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, set to be released on Wednesday, for clues on U.S. monetary policy, particularly any changes to the central bank's $85 billion monthly purchases of mortgage-backed bonds.
* UBS and Deutsche Bank cut their 2013 gold price forecasts on Tuesday, with Deutsche lowering its price view by 12 percent to $1,637 an ounce, saying returns from the metal this year may be the worst since 2000.
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares edged higher on Wednesday after a strong session on Wall Street overnight while the yen remained under pressure, with tensions on the Korean peninsula seen capping gains for riskier assets.
* Investors also awaited cues from Chinese trade data later in the session, which could show a pullback in annual export growth after February's rise.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
N/A China Trade data
0645 France Industrial output
0800 Italy Industrial output
1615 IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde speaks
1800 FOMC releases minutes from its March 19-20 meeting
2000 U.S. Federal budget
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0041 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1586.27 1.57 +0.10 -5.27
Spot Silver 27.94 0.01 +0.04 -7.73
Spot Platinum 1543.74 -3.26 -0.21 0.57
Spot Palladium 724.47 0.97 +0.13 4.69
COMEX GOLD JUN3 1586.50 -0.20 -0.01 -5.33 1859
COMEX SILVER MAY3 27.92 0.03 +0.12 -7.66 679
Euro/Dollar 1.3078
Dollar/Yen 99.15
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
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