• Spot gold shed 1.3 percent at $1,328.71 an ounce by 1:35 p.m. EST (1835 GMT), dropping to $1,328.26, its lowest since Feb. 14.
• U.S. gold futures futures for April delivery settled down $25, or 1.8 percent, at $1,331.20 per ounce.
• Gold prices were pressured by a stronger U.S. dollar and rising interest rates on Tuesday, dropping for a third session, but were underpinned by political worries and uncertainty about this week's huge U.S. bond auctions.
• The dollar continued its rebound from three-year lows as investors shrugged off worries about the U.S. budget deficit and focused on large U.S. government debt auctions this week.
• "Gold is under pressure form the dollar index rallying significantly and interest rates continuing to rise," said Phillip Streible, senior commodities strategist at RJO Futures.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see gold hold the 50-day moving average at $1,316."
• The U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday sold record amounts of three-month and six-month bills at the highest interest rates for these maturities at auctions in more than nine years, Treasury data showed.
• The U.S. Treasury will sell more than $250 billion worth of new debt this week, which analysts said would be a key gauge of international investors' appetite for U.S. assets.
• Spot gold is expected to fall to the next support level at $1,326, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
• Gold investors are also anticipating the release on Wednesday of the U.S. Federal Reserve's January policy meeting minutes and the Thursday release of the European Central Bank's latest policy meeting minutes.
• Meanwhile, silver slipped 1.2 percent to $16.46 an ounce, hitting $16.44, its lowest since Feb. 14. Palladium added 0.1 percent at $1,033.99 an ounce, after rising to the highest since Feb. 2 at $1,050 in the previous session. Platinum dropped 0.2 percent to $1,000.20 an ounce after rising to a three-week high of $1,013.60 on Monday.
Reference: Reuters
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