Gold and Silver closed lower in futures market on Tuesday as a rebound in European and US stock markets undermined the metal’s appeal as a haven from risk, and as the dollar strengthened against a basket of currencies.
Advertisement
Spot gold was down 0.6 per cent at $1,097.55 an ounce by 1533 GMT, while USA gold futures were unchanged at $1,097.40.
Investment appetite for bullion showed signs of picking up last week.
“Gold was down yesterday after stocks came back, and down again today”, INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said.
“Gold is holding well despite strong US employment data, although seems to be facing resistance at the 100-day moving average at $1,109 for now”, Joni Teves, a strategist at UBS Group, said in an emailed report on Monday.
The metal posted the biggest weekly gain since August last week as escalating concerns about China’s outlook, a rout in equities and increased geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and North Korea stoked investors’ aversion to risk.
Though the global fundamentals are not yet perturbed by the Chinese disturbances, gold was off from its recent high towards the weekend as data suggested that United States job growth surged in December, employment numbers for the prior two months got revised sharply higher, suggesting that a recent manufacturing-led slowdown in economic growth could be temporary.
“The Chinese stock market crash and the unease it’s created in the market that the government isn’t able to control the economy the way it wants to has lifted gold prices higher”, Natixis analyst Bernard Dahdah said. Since the US Federal Reserve raised rates in December, attention has shifted to how many hikes will follow in 2016. “The market will be focused on what the Fed decides”. Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York-listed SPDR Gold Shares, rose 4.2 tonnes on Thursday, data from the fund showed.
Platinum for April delivery on the Nymex closed down $7.70 at $838.60 per ounce, while the most-actively traded palladium contract settled at $469.80 per ounce, down $4.50.
Advertisement
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
