SINGAPORE: Gold hovered above $1,760 an ounce on Wednesday after three consecutive sessions of losses, as a murky outlook for global growth buoyed the dollar, putting pressure on bullion.
The greenback rose to its highest in nearly a month against a basket of currencies, making dollar-priced commodities more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.
The euro zone debt crisis continues to weigh on appetite for risk, with Spain resisting asking for a bailout and German Chancellor Angela Merkel making no promise of further aid to Greece as her visit to the country was greeted by angry protesters.
Stimulus measures by the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank boosted gold last month, but the precious metal has been trending lower this week in the absence of fresh catalysts.
"There is a huge requirement for the Fed to be extremely accommodative and to up the dose of the liquidity lifeline that the equity market is on," said a Hong Kong-based trader, adding that gold could see further mild pullback ahead of a Fed policy meeting later this month.
"The positioning in gold is so long that it could use something to take off that overhang in the market."
The net length in US gold futures and options struck a more than one-year high last week after seven straight weeks of gains, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed .
Spot gold was trading flat at $1,763.64 an ounce by 0354 GMT, hovering above a 1-1/2 week low of $1,759.94 hit in the previous session.
It had fallen 1.4 percent in the past three days -- its sharpest three-day decline in more than two months.
US gold was also little changed at $1,765.80.
Technical analysis suggests spot gold could fall to $1,750 an ounce during the day, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
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