Gold futures settle below $1,400 an ounce Market eyes Federal Reserve hints on bond purchases

Prices relinquished the $1,400-an-ounce level they had reclaimed just a day earlier. Gold for August delivery GCQ3 +0.64%  dropped $14.70, or 1%, to settle at $1,397.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The move came a day after gold prices tacked on $18.90 an ounce, or 1.4%, to close at $1,411.90, helped by a decline in the dollar on data showing a contraction in U.S. manufacturing in May.

Commodities priced in dollars, including gold, tend to trade inversely with the dollar, as moves in the U.S. unit can influence the attractiveness of those commodities to holders of other currencies.

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