2021.09.2118:24:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Higher For 2nd Straight Day

Gold futures settled higher on Tuesday, extending gains to a second straight session, after three successive days of losses.

The dollar's weakness ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement supported the yellow metal's uptick.

After drifting down to 93.05 in the European session, the dollar recovered gradually and briefly emerging above the flat line before turning weak again. It was last seen at 93.20, down 0.08% from the previous close.

Gold futures for December ended up by $14.40 or about 0.8% at $1,778.20 an ounce.

Silver futures for December ended higher by $0.407 at $22.611 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.1260 per pound, up $0.0115 from the previous close.

The Fed is widely expected to leave monetary policy unchanged but could address the outlook for its asset purchase program.

The minutes of the Fed's last meeting signaled the central bank was prepared to begin scaling back asset purchases by the end of the year.

With some recent disappointing economic data suggesting the Fed could push back its plans, traders are likely to pay close attention to the wording of the post-meeting statement.

On the U.S. economic front, a report from the Commerce Department showed new residential construction in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of August, wth housing starts jumping by 3.9% to an annual rate of 1.615 million in the month from a revised rate of 1.554 million in July.

Economists had expected housing starts to increase to a rate of 1.580 million from the 1.534 million originally reported for the previous month.

The Commerce Department also said building permits spiked by 6% to an annual rate of 1.728 million in August from a revised rate of 1.630 million in July. Economists had expected building permits to drop to a rate of 1.610 million from the 1.635 million orginally reported for the previous month.