Modest Advance for Gold Futures

A likely level for technical support would be at around $625 for the April futures contract, or slightly below that for spot gold.

On the economics front, market observers saw evidence of a mixed economy when the Federal Reserve released its beige book report at 2 p.m. EST.

"Several districts noted some slowing," the document stated. "Boston reported some softening, and Dallas said economic activity continued to decelerate."

That news came after the Comex close, but such reports have the capacity to move the value of the greenback relative to other currencies and gold.

A continued period of slower economic activity would likely put downward pressure on the dollar and boost gold; the two tend to move inversely.

One dollar was recently buying 116.322 yen, down from 116.62 yen late Tuesday, while one euro was buying $1.3175 vs. $1.3123 previously.

Back in gold, on the supply side, South Africa's production fell 7.5% to 275 tons in 2006, according to new data from the country's Chamber of Mines. It marks the lowest level of output since 1922. Despite the drop, South Africa still mines more gold than any other country, slightly ahead of the U.S.

Turning to the miners, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Gold Index, which tracks a basket of gold stocks, was up 0.5%, with shares of Harmony Gold(HMY Quote), ahead 0.2%. Goldcorp(GG Quote) was slipping 0.2%.