Gold fell 1 percent in early trade on Monday as opinion polls indicated an increasing possibility of Britain opting to remain in the European Union in a referendum later this week.
FUNDAMENTALS
- Spot gold had dropped 1.1 percent to $1,284.50 an ounce by 0044 GMT. Bullion, which rose 2 percent last week, touched a low of $1,281.05 an ounce on Monday.
- U.S. gold slid 0.5 percent to $1,287.90 Asian stocks gained early on Monday as rising expectations of Britain voting to remain in the EU lifted risk sentiment and the pound jumped against its peers.
- A vote on June 23 by Britain to leave the 28-member EU, dubbed “Brexit,” could tip Europe back into recession, putting more pressure on the global economy.
- Three opinion polls ahead of Thursday’s vote showed the ‘Remain’ camp recovering some momentum, although the overall picture remained one of an evenly split electorate.
- U.S. stock markets could see heavy trading and increased volatility this week as investors position for the British referendum.
- The U.S. economy may only need one rate hike for as long as 2-1/2 years and the Federal Reserve is eroding its credibility by indicating otherwise, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said.
- The New York Fed lowered its forecasts for U.S. economic growth in the second and third quarter largely due to recent negative data on domestic manufacturing activity.
- Hedge funds and money managers took their bullish stance in gold to the highest in nearly five years in the week to June 14, U.S. government data showed.
- Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.59 percent to 907.88 tons on Friday, the highest since September 2013.
- INTL FCStone Inc has hiked the amount of cash customers have to deposit with them to trade gold, silver and sterling futures, a relatively rare step that shows financial firms are bracing for volatile trading ahead of Britain’s vote on Europe.
- Russia’s largest gold producer Polyus plans to sell 5 percent of its existing shares on the Moscow bourse when market conditions are right, Chief Executive Pavel Grachev told Reuters on Friday.
Source: Bullion Bulletin