The Fed's Federal Open Market Committee will end a two-day policy meeting later in the afternoon. Signs of tightening could reduce inflation worries and curb gold's appeal as a hedge against rising prices. In early North American electronic trading, the most active December gold futures slid $2.10, or 0.2%, to $945.50 an ounce. The front-month August contract was also lower, down $1.80, or 0.2%, at $944 an ounce. "The market is likely to remain cautious ahead of the FOMC decision," said Suki Cooper, a precious-metals analyst at Barclays Capital, in a note. "A more optimistic accompanying statement would be dollar-positive, which in turn is likely to expose gold to growing downside risk." Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD 92.91, +0.12, +0.13%) fell more than 3 metric tons to stand at 1,065.49 metric tons Tuesday, the lowest level since March 13. Holdings are now down nearly 70 metric tons from their record above 1,134 metric tons hit in early June. "With more investor redemptions expected, gold will remain at risk to further pressure," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. In other ETFs, holdings iShare Silver Trust (SLV 14.18, +0.09, +0.64%) , the biggest silver ETF, stood near a record at 8,824.67 metric tons. Interest-rate futures on Wednesday indicated traders no longer expect the Fed to raise its target overnight borrowing cost for banks, known as the federal-funds rate, by the end of this year, but still see a chance of a increase by next spring. Meanwhile, markets are expecting the Fed to allow its $300 billion Treasury-buying program to end over the next six weeks. See related story. In other metals, September silver lost 6.5 cents, or 0.5%, to $14.28 an ounce. October platinum fell $4.90, or 0.4%, to $1,240.20 an ounce, while September palladium slid $4.15, or 1.5%, to $271 an ounce. September copper was down slightly at $2.7305 a pound. Moming Zhou is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York. Add Comment ›V

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