Gold settles lower ahead of Fed's minutes

Gold prices tilted lower in American trade, hovering between $1,230 and $1,240 as the dollar index edged higher according to their inverse relation, which follows a spate of data from the U.S. that showed gains in the housing sector in January, while traders await the Federal Open Market Committee's last meeting minutes today.
 
As of 06:06 GMT, gold futures due on April 15 fell to $1,233.10 an ounce from the opening price of $1,236.90, with an intraday low at $1,231.50, and a high at $1,241.90.

The dollar index inched up 0.08% to 101.45 from the opening of 101.37.
 
Earlier data from the world's largest economy showed existing home sales up 3.3% in January to 5.69 million units, compared to a 1.6% fall in December to 5.51 million, and besting expectations of a 1.1% rise to 5.55M, while investors now await the Federal Reserve's last meeting minutes, when policymakers kept overnight interest rates unchanged at between 0.50% and 0.75%, after raising them by 25 basis points in the last meeting of 2016.