London: Gold fell close to an earlier multi-year low on Wednesday, as the market awaited minutes of a recent Federal Reserve meeting which could reinforce prospects of a rate hike next month.
Declines were however capped by a lower dollar, coupled with risk aversion after a gunfight in Paris early in the morning.Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,068 an ounce by 1504 GMT, after falling to $1,064.95 earlier, the lowest since February 2010. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were down $1.50 an ounce at $1,067.
Silver tracked gold, dropping close to a 2-1/2-month low, down 0.6 percent at $14.09 an ounce, while platinum stood just above a seven-year low of $840.40 an ounce, hit earlier.
Bullion prices have fallen for 14 out of 16 sessions, under pressure from prospects for the first U.S. interest rate hike in nearly a decade in December. Higher rates would increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding metal.
Data on Tuesday showing U.S. consumer prices increased in October further fuelled those expectations, while market odds for a December hike moved from around 30 percent to 66 percent.
"The market is focused on a December rate hike and the positioning in gold has become quite bearish again very rapidly in the futures market," Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke said.
"There is a risk for a positive reaction in gold should the Fed not hike a month from today, but that does not seem likely at this point."
The dollar eased 0.1 percent against a basket of currencies, retreating from an earlier seven-month high. European shares fell, retreating from solid gains made in the previous session.
"We saw a pop in the last few days, but the knee-jerk reaction didn't really last. The overriding factor ...has been the expectation of (the) Fed hiking rates in December," said ANZ analyst Victor Thianpiriya.
Heightened security concerns in Europe after Friday night's attacks in the French capital in which 129 people were killed have failed substantially to underpin gold's safe-haven appeal. Gold is typically seen as a refuge in times of uncertainty.
A woman suicide bomber blew herself up and another militant died on Wednesday when police raided an apartment in the Paris suburb of St. Denis seeking suspects in last week's attacks.
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