Gold inched down on Wednesday in the face of a key technical resistance and talks on further rate hikes this year saw the dollar move away from multi-month lows amid rising equities. "A resurgent US dollar, along with higher US yields and equities has taken the momentum out of the gold rally for now," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
The metal was also under pressure after failing to break through its 200-day moving average at $1,260, Halley said, posting its second consecutive down day in Asia. Spot gold was down 0.1 percent to $1,250.75 per ounce at 0714 GMT. US gold futures slipped 0.5 percent to $1,249.8.
Reinforcing rate hike expectations, US consumer confidence index hit 125.6 in March, surpassing expectations for a reading of 114 and much higher than 116.1 in February. The March level marked thee highest since December 2000 Meanwhile, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, which is considered a gauge of investment demand, reported an outflow of 1.8 tonnes on Tuesday.
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