Gold drops for third session in a row

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped for a third session in a row Wednesday.

The most active gold contract for April delivery dropped 17.7 U. S. dollars, or 1.3 percent, to settle at 1,341.3 dollars per ounce.

Gold kept falling in electronic trading after the Federal Reserve said it would continue to cut its monthly assets purchases by another 10 billion dollars to 55 billion dollars a month. The central bank also dropped the 6.5-percent unemployment rate threshold for the first interest rates hike and said instead it would rely on "a wide range of information" in deciding when to raise interest rates.

Gold seemed to have touched its near-term high of 1,392 dollars last week, and may re-test 1,300 dollars. Market analysts hold that the key factors behind gold's recent gains were short covering that hardly constitutes the basis for solid long-term investment.

Silver for May delivery lost 3.6 cents, or 0.17 percent, to close at 20.826 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery slipped 10 dollars, or 0.68 percent, to close at 1,451.7 dollars per ounce.