Gold fell in early Asian trading on Monday as investors await indications from a key U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week on the pace of the central bank’s bond buying programme.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold eased 0.2 percent to $1,387.24 an ounce by 0022 GMT. Bullion closed up about 0.5 percent for the week on Friday helped by strong demand for coins and bars, a pullback in U.S. stocks and rising tensions in the Middle East.
* U.S. gold fell slightly to $1,386.9.
* Markets have been on the edge since May 22 when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the bank could scale back its stimulus programme if the economy improves.
* A reduction in the $85 billion monthly bond purchases could hurt gold, typically seen as a hedge against inflation. The Fed meets on June 18-19.
* Hedge funds and money managers slashed their bullish bets in gold and silver futures and options in the week to June 11, a report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
* Gold output in Australia, the No. 2 producer behind China, fell 5 percent in the first quarter on weather-related disruption to 63.5 tons, according to the latest Gold Quarterly Review by Surbiton Associates.
* HSBC lowered its platinum price forecasts for this year and next, even though supplies are tight, because the metal has been influenced by the sharp sell-off in gold.
* Anglo American Platinum said on Saturday operations at its Thembelani mine in South Africa were back to normal after a “group of employees” on Friday prevented 2,400 workers from going above ground.
Precious metals prices 0022 GMT
Metal |
Last |
Change |
Pct chg |
YTD pct chg |
Volume |
|
Spot Gold |
1387.24 |
-2.96 |
-0.21 |
-17.16 |
|
|
Spot Silver |
21.97 |
-0.07 |
-0.32 |
-27.44 |
|
|
Spot Platinum |
1441.5 |
-3.5 |
-0.24 |
-6.09 |
|
|
Spot Palladium |
726.47 |
-3.03 |
-0.42 |
4.98 |
|
|
COMEX GOLD AUG3 |
1386.9 |
-0.7 |
-0.05 |
-17.24 |
1724 |
|
COMEX SILVER JU L3 |
— |
|
|
|
|
|
Euro/Dollar |
1.3342 |
|
|
|
|
|
Dollar/Yen |
94.49 |
|
|
|
|
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
Source: Reuters
Source: Bullion Bulletin