Gold edged up on Wednesday as the looming debt ceiling deadline prompted some safe-haven flows, while traders waited to scrutinise minutes of the Federal Reserve's recent policy meeting for guidance on U.S. interest rates.

Spot gold was up 0.3% to $1,981.46 per ounce by 1215 GMT, while U.S. gold futures gained 0.5% to $1,984.30.

Representatives of U.S. President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans ended another round of talks to raise the debt-ceiling without a resolution on Tuesday.

While a strengthening dollar is weighing on gold prices, some safe haven buying is keeping the metal close to $2,000/oz, said Edward Gardner, commodities economist at Capital Economics.

Stocks lurched lower due to the stand-off in the debt ceiling talks, helping safe-haven assets like gold recoup some of their recent losses.

If regional U.S. banking troubles were to subside and agreement reached over the debt ceiling, gold could fall further, Gardner added, perhaps even lower than Capital Economics' end-of-year $1,950 forecast.

Bullion was hovering just above 1-1/2 month lows touched last week as several Fed officials suggested the central bank would stick to its rate-hiking plan. Higher interest rates tend to increase the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing gold.

"For now, gold is a holding pattern, unlikely to fall much lower given the lack of progress on U.S. debt talks but equally needing a fresh catalyst...to push prices back above the $2,000 an ounce threshold," Kinesis Money analyst Rupert Rowling wrote in a note.

Minutes of the Fed's May 2-3 meeting are due at 1800 GMT, after the central bank raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to the 5%-5.25% range.

Spot silver rose 0.2% to $23.48 per ounce. Platinum fell 0.9% to $1,038.95 while palladium dipped nearly 1% to $1,431.50, both near three-week lows.

(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Christina Fincher)