Gold futures rang up a consecutive loss on Tuesday as investors digested a spate of economic reports from a busy week of economic indicators, which culminates with the Friday jobs report.
Gold for April delivery GCJ5, +0.07% fell by $3.80, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,204.40 an ounce on Comex, while May silver SIK5, -0.16% settled down 15.5 cents, or 0.9%, to $16.296 an ounce after a 0.7% loss a day earlier.
Tokyo (Nikkei Average NIK, -0.76% ) down 0.7%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.32% ) down 0.3%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -0.16% ) down 0.2% (at break)
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.47% ) down 0.5%
Seoul (Kospi SEU, -0.05% ) down 0.1%
Mumbai (Sensex 1, +1.01% ) up 1.2%
Taipei (Taiex Y9999, +0.08% ) up 0.2%
Asia markets mostly fell Wednesday following a retreat on Wall Street fuelled by profit-taking, with Tokyo hit by a stronger yen and Sydney dipping after data showed Australia's economy grew slower than expected last year.
With few trading cues investors are keeping a watch on the start of China's annual parliament meeting Thursday as well as European Central Bank details on its new bond-purchase scheme.
Tokyo slid 1.01 per cent, Sydney shed 0.56 per cent, Hong Kong lost 0.24 per cent and Seoul eased 0.13 per cent. Shanghai, which tumbled 2.20 per cent Tuesday, edged up 0.21 per cent.
"The lack of fresh sparks has prompted investors to take profits and wait for new signals," Matthew Sherwood, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Perpetual Ltd, told Bloomberg News.
