PRECIOUS-Gold holds close to five-month peak ahead of Fed

"It is the most uncertain Fed meeting in a while. The Fed fund futures are pricing in a likelihood of roughly 2/3 in favour of a rate hike in this meeting, which is way below from an almost done deal just a few days back," Fritsch said. The U.S. central bank may signal an earlier end to its monetary tightening in the face of financial market volatility and rising recession fears. Expectations of lower interest rates tend to support gold, as they reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and put pressure on the greenback. "It is not a mystery that all eyes are now on the Fed's meeting. Gold is supported by expectations for a dovish foreguidance for 2019-2020," said ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto De Casa.

The dollar slipped 0.3 percent after touching a one-week low versus a basket of currencies in the previous session. "From a technical point of view, the trend remains bullish," De Casa said. "We're still on track for seeing bullion continuing its recovery to $1,260." Gold has risen nearly 8 percent from 19-month lows hit in mid-August and is on track for its best quarter since March 2017. Rising investor interest was reflected in inflows to the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold Trust . Holdings in the ETF jumped 1.1 percent to 771.79 tonnes, the highest since Aug. 20, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, silver was up 0.1 percent at $14.65, while platinum gained 0.6 percent to $792. Spot palladium rose 1.3 percent to $1,259.50 per ounce, having hit a record high of $1,269.50 earlier this week.