Author: Paul Ploumis27 Jan 2015 Last updated at 03:16:11 GMT

(Kitco News) - Gold continues to retreat on Monday and HSBC expects a consolidation period to continue ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

“We attribute these losses to a market consolidation of gains made since earlier this year given that bullion rallied as much as 10% to hit a high of $1,308/oz on 22 January,” they say in a report on Monday.

“In the near term, bullion may continue to consolidate from gains made earlier in the year, in our view.”

According to HSBC U.S. economists, the FOMC is not expected to raise the federal funds target rate until September 2015.

“HSBC’s Chief U.S. Economist Kevin Logan said that the January policy statement is expected to be relatively little changed as far as its descriptions of current economic conditions and the economic outlook,” they add.

Courtesy: Kitco News