FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,960.68 per ounce, as
of 0103 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,962.10.
* The dollar index was 0.1% higher, making bullion
less affordable for buyers holding other currencies.
* Market participants are awaiting U.S. Personal Consumption
Expenditures data, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation
measure, for further clues about the Fed's monetary policy. The
data is due on Friday.
* The Fed will make its interest rate decisions from here on
a meeting-to-meeting basis and will take financial conditions
into account in that judgment alongside other factors, Fed Vice
Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said on Wednesday.
* Barr also said the scope of blame for Silicon Valley
Bank's failure stretches across bank executives, Fed supervisors
and other regulators.
* Markets see a 41.2% chance of the Fed raising interest
rates by 25 basis points in May, according to the CME FedWatch
tool.
* The opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold rises
when interest rates are increased to bring down inflation.
* Falling energy prices will lower headline inflation
towards the Bank of England's (BoE) 2% target, but persistent
underlying inflation will make it hard for the BoE to set
monetary policy as the year progresses, BoE monetary policy
committee member Catherine Mann said on Wednesday.
* Spot silver fell 0.3% to $23.29 per ounce, platinum slipped 0.5% to $962.88 and palladium edged down
0.2% to $1,436.85.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0900 EU Consumer Confid. Final March
1200 Germany CPI Prelim YY March
1200 Germany HICP Prelim YY March
1230 US GDP Final Q4
1230 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly
(Reporting by Kavya Guduru in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu
Sahu)
