Gold prices were steady in a tight range on Wednesday, following a sharp drop in the previous session, as investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve"s decision on the pace at which the central bank plans to taper its pandemic stimulus measures. Spot gold was flat at $1,767.71 per ounce, as of 0725 GMT, though it hovered near a two-week low of $1,766.00 hit earlier in the session. Bullion dropped nearly 1% in the previous session. read more U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,767.80. "It looks like there"s some pre-FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) positioning flowing towards a defensive against rates," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management. Traders are watching the U.S. Fed closely to see whether it accelerates tapering of its bond-buying programme and brings forward its projections for interest rate hikes. Reduced stimulus and interest rate hikes tend to push government bond yields up, raising the opportunity cost of holding bullion, which bears no interest. "Even in a hawkish pivot, gold could end the year somewhere between $1,750 and $1,800 if the Fed moves to three dots. If it"s two dots, I think it becomes supportive for gold, but I don"t think there"s an outright rallying cry for bullion investors right now," Innes said. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also scheduled to meet this week. read more "Gold is likely to be lacklustre towards the end of the year as the fundamentals remain on the weaker side, and a potential rate hike by the Fed next year, reducing the quantitative measures - all these are negative for gold," said Hareesh V, head of commodity research at Geojit Financial Services in Kochi, India. Silver fell 0.1% to $21.90 per ounce, while platinum dropped 0.7% to $913.58, with palladium falling 1.1% to $1,603.33. Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-Phillips Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.