Gold futures settled lower on Wednesday as the investors opted for profit taking after series of bullish gold sessions. Gold futures contract for August delivery declined 0.1 percent or $1.70 to $1,615.10 per ounce at Comex trading of New York Mercantile Exchange.  The respective contract touched the day’s high of $1,628 but later fell to its day’s low of $1,613 per ounce.

Gold’s futures contract for December delivery which also remained highly active declined $2 to $1,617.30 per ounce after reaching its highest of $1,631.20 per ounce.

The main reason behind the decline of gold was the appreciation of US dollar as the dollar index DXY which measures the greenback’s performance against its major counterpart currencies gained to 74.138 on Wednesday as compared to 73.501 on Tuesday’s late trading hours.

Gold and greenback maintains negative correlation and always moves in opposite directions against each other. Gold price always benefits in reaction to declining US dollar due its safe haven status and vice versa.

However, most of the analysts foresee further bullish rally for gold futures till the US debt talks are resolved.

Silver futures contract for September delivery also declined 0.3 percent or $0.13 to $40.57 per ounce. Copper futures contract for September delivery also fell 0.7 percent or $0.03 to $4.45 per pound.

Platinum futures contract for October delivery gained $0.80 to $1,808 per ounce on NYMEX whereas its sister metal palladium futures contract dropped 0.34 percent or $2.90 to $833.20 per ounce.