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By Bloomberg

Gold extended losses as investors weighed the outlook for higher U.S. interest rates after the Federal Reserve boosted its assessment of the economy and labor market, while acknowledging global risks.

Bullion for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.5 percent to $1,278.27 an ounce and was at $1,282.56 by 2:12 p.m. Singapore time, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. Prices dropped 0.6 percent on Wednesday. Gold for April delivery lost 0.3 percent to $1,283.20 an ounce on the Comex.

The Federal Open Market Committee after a meeting in Washington on Wednesday described the economic expansion as “solid,” an improvement over the “moderate” performance it saw in December. It substituted “strong” for “solid” in its evaluation of job gains and said it will take into account readings on international developments as it decides how long to keep key rates near zero.

“The assessments of the economy and the labor market were generally upgraded, and although there was a mention of ‘international developments’ potentially affecting the timing of a rate hike, there was no indication of a shift in the Fed’s thinking,” UBS Group AG analysts Edel Tully and Joni Teves wrote in a Jan. 29 report. “U.S. monetary policy continues to be a significant challenge for gold.”

All 10 voting FOMC members backed Wednesday’s policy statement, marking the first unanimous decision since June.

Since their last meeting, Fed officials learned that the world’s largest economy grew at a 5 percent annual pace in the third quarter, the most since 2003. A report Friday may show expansion of 3.1 percent for the last three months of 2014, still above the post-recession average of 2.2 percent, a Bloomberg survey of economists shows.

Silver for immediate delivery fell 0.9 percent to $17.8403 an ounce. Palladium declined 0.1 percent to $794.85 an ounce, while platinum was little changed at $1,254.60 an ounce.