Gold prices fell on Tuesday, deepening losses for the third straight day, near a 2-week low, as the US dollar rose against a majority of rivals, and ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting.

Gold prices fell 0.2% to $1,793.63 an ounce, after opening at $1,797.47, and hit a high at $1,801.22.

Gold closed lower by 0.3% yesterday, and posted its second straight daily loss, after hitting a 2-week low at $1,789.68 an ounce.

The dollar index rose over 0.2% today, which dampens demand for dollar-denominated metals prices.

The US dollar is attracting demand amid expectations that the Federal Reserve’s meeting will deliver insight on the near tightening of the US monetary policy.

The US Federal Reserve's monthly meeting will start later today, and will continue to Wednesday, amid expectations of holding the benchmark interest rate near zero, and will be followed by a press conference from the Fed Chief Jerome Powell.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF fell 1.74 metric tonnes yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since May 13 at 1,025.64 metric tonnes.

The US dollar rose against a majority of rivals on Tuesday, resuming gains after taking a pause yesterday due to profit-taking, ahead of the US consumer confidence data and the Federal Reserve’s meeting.

The dollar index rose more than 0.2% to 92.83 points, after opening at 92.62 points, and hit a low of 92.55 points.

The US dollar fell 0.3% yesterday, the first loss in 3 days due to profit taking from a 3-month high of 93.19 points.

The US dollar is attracting demand amid expectations that the Federal Reserve’s meeting will deliver insight on the near tightening of the US monetary policy.

At 14:00 GMT, the CB Consumer Confidence index reading for July will be released, which is expected down to 123.9 points, from 127.3 in June.

The US Federal Reserve's monthly meeting will start later today, and will continue to Wednesday, amid expectations of holding the benchmark interest rate near zero, and will be followed by a press conference from the Fed Chief Jerome Powell.

European stocks fell on Tuesday, deepening losses for the second straight day, pulling back further from their all-time highs, due to profit-taking and investors' risk aversion, amid the flow of Q2 earning reports, while shares of Reckitt Benckiser  lost 9% after reporting worse-than-expected sales.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.7% as of 10:37 GMT, after it closed lower by 0.1% on profit-taking from its all-time high at 461.75 points.

The automotive sector saw the largest loss in Europe today, with a drop of 1.2%, deepening losses for the second straight day led by German manufacturers.

The British Reckitt Benckiser's stock fell nearly 9%, after the company reported lower-than-expected sales during the second quarter due to a slowdown in demand for major products.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.4% today ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index ended higher by 0.25% yesterday and posted a new record at 4,422.73 points.

The US Federal Reserve's monthly meeting will start later today, amid broad anticipation of more cues over the future of the US monetary policy tightening.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.6%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.3%, Germany's DAX index fell 0.7%, and the UK's FTSE 100 fell more than 0.6%.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, to head for the first loss in 5 days, due to renewed global demand concerns, after a spike in Covid-19 infections in some countries and the tightening of lockdowns.

US crude fell 1.0% to $71.49, after opening at $72.19, and hit a day high at $72.30, and Brent crude fell 0.7% to $74.18, after opening at $74.68, and hit a day high at $75.02.

US crude gained 0.2% yesterday, and Brent crude futures rose 0.8%, in the fourth straight daily gain.

New Covid-19 cases continued to rise during the weekend in some major Asian countries, which led to increasing the lockdown restrictions.

Similarly, the US warned against travel to Spain and Portugal, due to rising number of new Covid cases in these countries.

A White House official told Reuters that will not lift any existing travel restrictions due to the highly transmissible delta variant.