In Asia on Wednesday morning, gold was down. Investors remained cautiously optimistic as they awaited the latest U.S. jobs report, which could provide clues as to when the Federal Reserve will begin asset tapering and interest rate hikes.
By 12:31 a.m. ET, gold futures had fallen 0.06 percent to $1,817.05. (4:31 AM GMT). The dollar, which typically moves in the opposite direction of gold, edged higher on Wednesday after hitting a more than three-week low the day before.
The Conference Board (CB) consumer confidence index fell to 113.8 in June, a six-month low, and the S&P/Case-Shiller 20 n.s.a. house price index composite rose a record 19.1 percent. With labor market recovery a requirement for the Fed to begin asset tapering, all eyes are on Friday's jobs report, including non-farm payrolls jobs.
With the Eurozone consumer price index (CPI) growing at a faster-than-expected 3% year-on-year in August, some officials at the European Central Bank (ECB) are beginning to consider initiating asset cutting.
ECB Governing Council member Robert Holzmann is one of them, having indicated that asset tapering should be on the agenda at the Governing Council meeting next week.
