LONDON: Gold steadied on Thursday after hitting a two week high in the previous session as the dollar slid on what was seen as a less hawkish than expected rate hike view from the US Federal Reserve.
The Fed raised its key rate by 25 basis on Wednesday and flagged at least two more increases this year, but stopped short of pointing to the three increases that some economists had been predicting.
The dollar dropped to a month low versus a currency basket on Thursday, before recovering slightly and moving into positive territory. A stronger dollar makes dollar-priced gold costlier for non-US investors.
Although the Fed outlook for 2018 was seen as bearish, the central bank was otherwise upbeat on the economy, revising up rate projections for 2019 and 2020 and raising the estimated longer-term "neutral" interest rate a touch.
"(Gold's) initial reaction to the Fed was positive, but then reading through to 2019 and 2020 you see potentially a faster pace of (rate) tightening, so its like giving with one hand and taking away with the other," said Tom Kendall, analyst at ICBC Standard Bank.
"I think gold is doing pretty well to be trading where it is. You've got conflicting signals on the macro-economic and political side, and softening (physical) demand, so net net gold is comfortable in its existing range," he added.
Spot gold dipped 0.1 percent to $1,330.00 per ounce at 1107 GMT. Prices rose to a two-week high of $1,336.59 on Wednesday, and also registered their biggest single-day percentage gain since May 17, 2017.
US gold futures
for April delivery rose 0.6 percent to $1,329.80 per ounce.
In the wider market, Europe's main share indexes were in the red amid the threat of a global trade war, with Beijing bracing for new tariffs from US President Donald Trump on some $60 billion worth of Chinese imports.
"The fact that gold approached its recent 2018 low (of $1,306.91) on Tuesday, but failed to penetrate it, must be construed as a constructive sign for technical traders," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.
Some investors see trade tensions between the US and China lending further support to gold.
"If you factor in the significant near-term geopolitical concerns and the uncertain equity market fallout from an escalation of a trade war with China, gold has to be a mainstay component in any investment portfolio," Stephen Innes, APAC trading head at OANDA, said.
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