- Comex gold edged lower Wednesday with the lack of significant physical demand effectively halting the march towards $1,700 per ounce.

- Gold futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were last down $13.80 at $1,674.00 an ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,670.00 to $1,684.50.

- The All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation contends that about 85 percent of India's 300,000 jewellers remain on strike to protest over a government plan to double gold coin and bar import duties to four percent. The merchants said that they will keep their shops shuttered until the proposal is abandoned, which looks unlikely as Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee reportedly said that there are no plans to roll back the tax measures.

- “If gold jewellers were really to make good their threat, this would have negative impacts on the Indian gold imports, not only in the current quarter, but also in coming months and could for the time being block any significant increase in the price of gold,” Commerzbank AG said in a note.

 - Meanwhile, the dollar earlier climbed to an intraday high of 1.3374 against the euro but has since pulled back to 1.3322 following the release of mildly disappointing US durable goods orders, which rose 2.2 percent in February, below expectations of three percent.

- In wider markets, US equities opened near level, while Comex copper for May delivery fell 7.4 cents at $3.8060 per pound on increased Chinese growth concerns.

- As for the other precious metals, Comex silver for May delivery was last down 22.1 cents at $32.405 an ounce, while platinum for April delivery on the Nymex was $17.00 lower at $1,645.60 an ounce and June palladium was at $651.45, off $11.55.

 (Editing by Martin Hayes)

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