2021.04.2718:48:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Modestly Lower

Gold futures ended modestly lower on Tuesday after moving in a very narrow band as traders looked ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday.

A slightly stronger dollar weighed on gold prices. The dollar index, which retreated to 90.81 after advancing to 91.07, recovered to 90.90 subsequently, posting a gain of about 0.1%.

Yields on bonds rose ahead of a $62 billion auction of 7-year notes later today.

Gold futures for June ended down $1.50 or about 0.1% at $1,778.80 an ounce.

Silver futures for May ended lower by $0.201 at $26.410 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.4880 per pound, up $0.0470 from previous close.

No major policy changes are expected from the Fed's two-day policy meeting ending on Wednesday, with investors likely to pay close attention to Chair Jerome Powell's comments after the meeting.

A report from the Conference Board today showed U.S. consumer confidence reached its highest level since February of 2020 in the month of April.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped to 121.7 in April after spiking to a revised 109.0 in March. Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to rise to 112.0 from the 109.7 originally reported for the previous month.