NEW YORK: Gold fell on Wednesday as muted US producer prices triggered selling ahead of the release of the closely watched minutes of the US Federal Reserve's January meeting.
A Labor Department report showing little sign of price increases at the factory gate weighed on bullion's inflation-hedge appeal.
Separate economic data that showed US housing starts posted their biggest drop in almost three years also failed to lift gold.
Gold gained 3 percent over three straight sessions from Thursday to Monday after weak US manufacturing output cast doubts over the pace of the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening.
Uncertainty over tumbling assets in emerging markets also contributed to the metal's gains.
"Given all the chaos going on with the emerging markets, gold's performance is still far from a buoyant market," said Bill O'Neill, partner at New Jersey-based commodities investment firm LOGIC Advisors.
"I don't think gold is setting itself up for a major rally." Spot gold was down 0.1 percent to $1,319.21 an ounce by 1:33 p.m. EST (1833 GMT).
Bullion has risen around 9 percent so far this year and touched $1,332.10 an ounce on Tuesday, its strongest since Oct. 31, before shedding gains.
US COMEX gold futures for April delivery slipped $4.80 to $1,319.60 an ounce, with volume on track to finish below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.
Investors now focus on the release of the minutes of the Fed's January meeting, in which the US central bank opted to trim asset buying by another $10 billion to $65 billion a month.
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