Gold is sharply lower and near the daily low as midday approaches Thursday.
Prices were under pressure early on, mainly from a generally hawkish reading of Wednesday afternoon’s FOMC statement. Then as the U.S. dollar index moved to its daily high and is trading with solid gains, gold prices extended their early declines to trade sharply lower on the day. February gold was last down $27.50 an ounce at $1,258.30.
