| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
MTECHTIPS:-Gold struggles for direction in holiday-thinned trade
Monday, May 25, 2015 23:48
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.
MTECHTIPS:-Gold struggles for direction in holiday-thinned trade
Gold prices swung between small gains and losses in holiday-thinned trade on Monday, as traders continued to monitor the direction of the U.S. dollar and mull the timing of a Federal Reserve rate hike. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery tacked on $1.20, or 0.1%, to trade at $1,206.10 a troy ounce during U.S. morning hours. Futures held in a tight range between $1,203.30 and $1,206.90. Trading volumes were expected to remain thin with markets in the U.K., Germany and the U.S. closed for holidays. Futures were likely to find support at $1,191.50, the low from May 13, and resistance at $1,225.50, the high from May 19. On Friday, gold fell to $1,201.90, the weakest level since May 13, before ending at $1,204.90, down 20 cents, or 0.02%, after data showed that U.S. inflation rose for a third straight month in April and following comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.20% to 96.44 early on Monday. The dollar strengthened broadly on Friday after data showed that U.S. core consumer prices rose 0.3% in April and were 1.8% higher on a year-over-year basis, the largest increase since October. The greenback received an additional boost after Fed Chair Janet Yellen reiterated that the bank still expected to start raising interest rates later this year if the economy continued to improve as expected.
Expectations of higher borrowing rates going forward is considered bearish for gold, as the precious metal struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when rates are on the rise.
Expectations of higher borrowing rates going forward is considered bearish for gold, as the precious metal struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when rates are on the rise.
