Gold futures recovered from early weakness and settled higher on Wednesday amid largely cautious moves by traders ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium later this week.
A slightly firm dollar limited gold's uptick. The dollar index, which climbed to 109.11 dropped to 108.63 around late morning, but rebounded into positive territory subsequently and was up marginally at 108.67 a little while ago.
Gold futures for December ended higher by $0.30 at $1,761.50 an ounce.
Silver futures for September ended lower by about 0.6% at $18.097 an ounce, while Copper futures for September settled at $3.644 per pound, down 1.4%, from the previous close.
Powell's speech at the central bank's economic symposium at the Jackson Hole on Friday, is likely to provide clues about the bank's monetary policy at the upcoming meeting.
On the economic front, data from the government said orders at U.S. factories for long-lasting goods fell flat in July on a big drop in military contracts.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari Tuesday reiterated the U.S. central bank's commitment to bringing inflation under control through tighter monetary policy.
