By Mahmoud Gamal

Mubasher: Gold prices saw a slide in Wednesday's early trades ahead of the US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech in the congress on the outlook for key interest rates.

By 4:05am GMT, spot gold inched down 0.1% to $1,335.9 per ounce, while US gold futures were placed at $1,328.75 an ounce, down $1.65 from the previous quote.

The US dollar index rose by 0.12% to 95.46 against a basket of currencies.

Yellen's statement over possible rate hike could weaken the US dollar index on the short term and back gold prices by turns, said currency market analyst Mohamed Al-Ansari.

The dollar index is technically moving upwardly on the long run, the analyst noted, advising traders to increase their positions.