Gold closes slightly lower as dollar firms

Gold prices fell during today's trading amid dollar's stability against most of the major currencies with as markets focus shifted towards the Federal Reserve meeting tomorrow.

The Federal Reserve will hold its meeting on Tuesday to discuss monetary policy and issue its interest rate decision, the decision will be followed by a press conference from the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell.

The meeting comes after Powell and his central bank colleagues hinted that the rate could be cut later this year to counter slowing US economic growth and the impacts of the US-China trade war.

Powell stressed that the Federal Reserve will take all necessary measures to counter any slowdown in the growth of the US economy.

On the other hand, the dollar index (against a number of major currencies) stabilized at 97.5 points at 18:09 GMT, reaching a high of 97.6 points and a low of 97.3 points.

Gold futures (August delivery) fell by 0.1% to $1342.9 per ounce, the highest at $1347.1 and the lowest at $1336.6.