(Kitco News) - The gold market showed little reaction as the Federal Reserve announced its decision to leave interest rates unchanged and provided limited insight into its future monetary policy, keeping gold prices under pressure.

As anticipated, the U.S. central bank kept the Fed Funds rate steady within a range of 5.25% to 5.50%, maintaining an optimistic tone regarding the U.S. economy despite acknowledging the possibility of some weakness.

In its monetary policy statement, the Federal Reserve stated, "Recent indicators suggest that economic activity expanded at a strong pace in the third quarter. Job gains have moderated since earlier in the year but remain strong, and the unemployment rate has remained low."

The statement also highlighted the resilience of the U.S. banking system, while acknowledging that tighter financial and credit conditions for households and businesses may impact economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects, however, remains uncertain, and the Committee remains attentive to inflation risks.

The gold market displayed limited reaction to the expected move by the Federal Reserve. December gold futures, at the close of trading, stood at $1,988.50 an ounce, down 0.29% for the day.

Adam Button, head of currency strategy at Forexlive.com, observed that the changes in November's statement offered no new insights compared to the previous month's release.

Andrew Hunter, deputy chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, expressed skepticism regarding further interest rate cuts as inflation gradually cools. He noted, "While there is still a chance that the Fed will squeeze in a final 25bp hike at the December or January meetings if economic growth continues to surprise on the upside, the recent surge in long-term bond yields suggests that this is increasingly unlikely."

Hunter also predicted that the Federal Reserve would decrease interest rates during the first half of 2024. "Overall, we still expect the Fed's next move to be a rate cut, with rates falling to a below-consensus 3.25%-3.50% by the end of next year," he added.

In conclusion, gold prices remained steady as the Federal Reserve decided to maintain interest rates, while offering limited forward guidance. Market participants will continue to closely monitor economic indicators and inflation risks as they await further cues from the central bank.

Note: The article is generated based on the provided information and does not include any additional analysis or outside sources.