Gold falls

Bengaluru

Gold edged lower on Tuesday on a firmer dollar and equities as the market awaited cues on the path of interest rate hikes in the United States ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony on Wednesday.

The market was looking ahead to Wednesday and Thursday as Yellen will deliver two days of testimony on the US central bank's semi-annual report on monetary policy and the economy.

A higher dollar, in which gold is priced, would also lower the value of the yellow metal. "If the (Yellen) commentary is a little more hawkish, it's going to put a little more pressure on gold again and going by previous FOMC minutes, it's probably going to be," said MKS PAMP analyst Tim Brown, adding "a lot of it has already been priced in." 

Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,211.34 per ounce. US gold futures for August delivery fell 0.2 percent to $1,210.50 per ounce.