LONDON: Gold was little changed on Wednesday, off a near two-week high hit in the previous session and weighed on by a stronger dollar and European equities.
Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,138 an ounce by 1515 GMT, after hitting its strongest since Dec. 14 at $1,148.98 on Tuesday.
US gold futures were unchanged at $1,138.50 an ounce.
"In the short term, we are focused towards support at $1,100 and a break of this will be very bearish for the metal. As for the upside, we really need to break the level of $1,170 and $1,200," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at ThinkMarkets.
The metal fell more than 8 percent in November, as US Treasury yields rose after Donald Trump's election led to speculation his commitment to infrastructure spending would spur growth.
It then hit a 10-month low on Dec. 15 as solid US economic data gave confidence to the Federal Reserve to raise US interest rates for the first time in a year. The central bank signalled three more increases next year from the previous projection of two.
"Currently there are very strong expectations of more rate hikes next year," said Jiang Shu, chief analyst, Shandong Gold Group, adding that declining gold prices have had a negative impact on the bullish sentiment in physical gold prices.
The dollar index remained 0.5 percent higher against a basket of six main currencies, despite data showing contracts to buy previously owned US homes fell in November to their lowest level in nearly a year, a sign rising interest rates could be weighing on the housing market.
Upbeat US data recently, including a 15-year high in consumer confidence in December, helped underscore expectations the Fed would raise interest rates at a faster pace next year, which lowers demand for non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
Reflecting bearish investor sentiment, assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.14 percent to 823.36 tonnes on Tuesday. Holdings are down about 13 percent since the US presidential elections.
In other news, Shanghai Gold Exchange, the world's biggest physical bullion exchange, said on Wednesday it would curb the amount of gold investors can trade at one time, a move analysts said would limit institutional investors' influence on prices.
Silver was down 0.3 percent at $15.92 an ounce. The metal rose nearly 1.5 percent on Tuesday.
Platinum was down 0.9 percent at $890.90 and palladium fell 0.1 percent to $668.47, after rising over 2 percent in the previous session.
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