01.05.201906:57:00UTC+00Gold Prices Ease Ahead Of Fed Decision

Gold prices eased on Wednesday and the dollar held steady as investors await the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting.

Spot gold slid 0.1 percent to $1,282.43 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.15 percent at $1,283.95 an ounce.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it ends a two-day policy meeting later in the day.

Traders are likely to keep a close eye on the accompanying statement and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's subsequent press conference for clues on the outlook for interest rates.

A day before the policy decision, President Donald Trump urged the central bank to slash interest rates by as much as a full percentage point.

"Our Federal Reserve has incessantly lifted interest rates, even though inflation is very low, and instituted a very big dose of quantitative tightening," Trump said in a post on Twitter.

He added, "We have the potential to go up like a rocket if we did some lowering of rates, like one point, and some quantitative easing."

Ahead of the Fed announcement, trading may be impacted by reaction to reports on private sector employment, manufacturing activity and construction spending.