Gold slips as investors await Fed policy statement

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped Tuesday as investors waited for the monetary policy statement from the US Federal Reserve.

The most active gold contract for December delivery dropped 4.8 dollars, or 0.36 percent, to settle at 1,324.8 dollars per ounce.

The US Federal Open Market Committee started a two-day meeting Tuesday to work out the country's monetary policy in the future, and the final statement is due to come out Wednesday. Before then, any speculation on Fed's scale-back of bond purchase will be a guess, market analysts said.

Investors were also waiting for the first reading of the second- quarter US gross domestic product due out Wednesday and July report on the US job market Friday.

Nevertheless, downbeat economic data released Tuesday lent some support to gold, curbing its fall. The US Conference Board reported that the consumer confidence index fell to 80.3 in July from 82.1 in June, falling short of the 81.1 forecast by economists.

Silver for September delivery lost 18.4 cents, or 0.93 percent, to close at 19.68 dollars per ounce. Platinum for October delivery dipped 5.2 dollars, or 0.36 percent, to close at 1,437.5 dollars per ounce.