Gold futures extended losses in Asian trade on Wednesday, as tensions in the Korean peninsula continued to ease and traders focused on the release of FOMC minutes.


Attention is now directed to building permits and housing starts for July at 12:30 GMT and the release of the latest FOMC minutes as of 18:00 GMT.


The document will serve to assess expectations for a potential rate hike later this year. According to Fed funds tracked by CME Group’s, the probability for a 25 basis point December rate move stands at 46.8 percent.


At the July policy meeting, FOMC officials opted to leave rates unchanged in a range between 1.00 and 1.25 percent. However, they said a third hike was still part of the plan.


On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures were trading 0.23 percent or $2.90 lower at $1,276.80 a troy ounce as of 06:30 GMT.


The US Commerce Department said on Tuesday retail sales increased 0.6 percent in July, above an initially estimated 0.4 percent build. The export and import price indexes showed a 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent growth respectively, against a 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent seen.


Other news included the New York State manufacturing index, which moved to 25.20, comfortably above a modest 10.00 expectation. Business inventories added 0.5 percent.


The yellow metal fell yesterday following a confirmation that North Korean leader Kim Jong un has suspended a plan to fire four missiles to Guam, an unincorporated territory of the US.


Dollar denominated gold is sensitive to US rate hikes as they increase the opportunity cost of holding non yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting demand for the greenback.