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By Bloomberg

Gold traded little changed near a five-month high as investors assessed the outlook for U.S. interest rates before the Federal Reserve completes a two-day meeting.

The Fed will stay focused on raising rates about mid-year, according to a narrow majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Higher rates curb gold’s appeal because it offers returns only through price gains. The metal rose 9 percent this year on speculation the Fed will hold off raising borrowing costs amid concerns about the global economy. The Swiss central bank abandoned the franc’s cap against the euro this month before the European Central Bank announced asset purchases.

“It will be quite important to see what they do say because this will be the first that we’ve heard from the Fed since the SNB’s move and the ECB’s QE program was announced,” Victor Thianpiriya, an analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said by phone from Singapore, referring to quantitative easing. “There’s still a lot of conjecture as to when” interest rates will increase, he said.

Bullion for April delivery was little changed at $1,291.20 an ounce by 7:46 a.m. on the Comex in New York, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal touched $1,307.80 on Jan. 22, the highest since August. Futures trading volume was 54 percent higher than the average for the past 100 days for this time of day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Fed will leave rates unchanged Wednesday, a Bloomberg News survey of economists showed. Chair Janet Yellen said Dec. 17 the Fed is unlikely to move before end-April. The central bank has kept its target for the federal funds rate at zero to 0.25 percent since 2008.

Holdings in bullion-backed, exchange-traded products rose 7.9 metric tons to 1,656.2 tons on Tuesday, the highest since October.

Silver for March delivery slipped 0.2 percent to $18.05 an ounce on the Comex. Palladium for March delivery gained 0.9 percent to $787.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while platinum for April delivery was little changed at $1,266 an ounce.