Gold remained traded under pressure on Thursday after a fall following hawkish remarks by Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell.
In the Asian session, spot gold traded hovering around the price of $1,812 per ounce, while gold futures were little changed at $1,816 per ounce.
On the second day of presentations, Powell reiterated his statement on higher rate hikes, but emphasized that discussions are still ongoing with decisions depending on data to be released before the meeting in two weeks.
Earlier, the head of the US central bank had surprised markets by saying the Fed needed to raise rates higher and faster which opened up expectations for a 50 basis point hike at the next meeting.
As a result, the yellow metal fell sharply to the lowest level in almost 2 months while the greenback dollar jumped higher to the strongest level in 3 months.
Investors are now looking ahead to the release of US NFP jobs data due on Friday to see if it will support the central bank's expectations for further interest rate hikes.
ADP employment data released in the previous session showed US private sector employment growth was stronger than expected in February.
