Gold held onto a decline in early trading on Wednesday, trading at around $4,115 an ounce — yaani more than forty-one hundred dollars for a single ounce, about 31 grams, of gold — after falling more than 1% since the start of the week, Bloomberg reported. Spot gold fell 0.2% to $4,117.83 an ounce at 8:08 a.m. in Singapore, while silver eased 0.1% to $57.88 and platinum and palladium also edged lower.

A separate Reuters market report put spot gold at $4,118.64 an ounce at 0018 GMT on Wednesday, down 0.1%, with December gold futures at $4,137.60 — the same tight range around $4,115-$4,120.

Traders are caught between conflicting signals on efforts to end the Iran war, Bloomberg said. Oil eased from a five-month high on Tuesday after a diplomat said reports that an agreement to end the conflict was close were inaccurate. Gold has fallen by about a fifth since the US-Iran conflict erupted in late February, as higher energy prices fuelled inflation concerns — and higher borrowing costs are a headwind for gold, which pays no interest.

Oil itself moved back up early Wednesday on Middle East supply concerns. Brent crude futures rose 85 cents, or 0.78%, to $109.64 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate rose 76 cents, or 0.78%, to $98.58, Reuters reported from Beijing, with traders wary of Red Sea shipping risks and threats to oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting next week, traders have few fresh clues, Bloomberg said. Chair Kevin Warsh did nothing to dispel expectations that the Fed will hold rates steady in a speech on Friday, ahead of a communications blackout, and market pricing put the probability of a quarter-point hike at less than one in six. Long-term Treasuries rose on Tuesday, helped by oil's pullback and evidence of a softening US economy, with September housing starts down and pending home sales at a record low.

Sources: Bloomberg via Livemint and TradingView (Oct 21); Reuters via Northland News Radio and The Ledger Asia (Oct 21).