09:39 AM EDT, 09/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Gold prices rose early on Wednesday, pushing back above the US$2,600 mark as the dollar weakened ahead of this afternoon's expected first cut to U.S. interest rates since 2020.

Gold for December delivery was last seen up US$11.60 to US$2,604.00 per ounce.

The Federal Reserve's policy committee will end its two-day meeting at 2:00 pm Eastern time, after which the central bank is widely expected to announce the cut. However, the size of the cut remains uncertain, with the CME Fedwatch Tool seeing a 61% probability of a 50-basis-point cut to rates and a 39% chance of a 25-point drop.

More important than the size of the cut will be the Fed's forward guidance and assessment of the economy, Saxo Bank noted.

The dollar moved lower ahead of the meeting's end, with the ICE dollar index last seen down 0.13 points to 100.77.

Treasury yields widened, with the U.S. two-year note last seen paying 3.634%, up 1.9 basis points, while the yield on the 10-year note was up 2.5 basis points to 3.684%.