Gold futures move higher as dollar slips

Gold futures rose in electronic trading during Asian hours Monday as the U.S. dollar moved lower, recovering a portion of losses made in regular trading at the end of last week.

Gold for February delivery GCG3 +0.43%  advanced $4.40 to $1,664.90 an ounce in electronic trading Monday.

Some support for gold on Monday came from a weaker U.S. dollar. The ICE dollar index DXY -0.11% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded at 79.409, down from 79.566 in late North American trading Friday.

Gold’s gain came after the benchmark futures fell $17.40 on Friday to settle at $1,660.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange after the release of stronger-than-expected Chinese inflation data.

 

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However, the metal notched a 0.7% for the past week. Read: Gold settles lower for the day, up for the week

“Lack of conviction has tainted gold price action, and gold has struggled to establish its identity as a safe-haven asset,” said commodity strategists at Barclays Capital.

“The hurdles for gold are mounting, from dollar strength to a softer physical market, but in our view, a number of positive macro catalysts still exist that could push prices significantly higher,” they said.

Potential triggers for gold included the U.S. debt-ceiling debate and other fiscal issues, which the strategists said “are far from fully resolved” and pose a risk to the U.S. credit rating.

“Risks are skewed towards the near term, [and] we believe that the first quarter of 2013 will be key in setting the tone of trading,” the strategists said.

Around the wider metals complex, silver for March delivery SIH3 +1.03%  advanced 25 cents to $30.66 an ounce.

April platinum PLJ3 -2.34%  climbed $7.50 to $1,638.70 an ounce, while March palladium PAH3 -0.68%  advanced $2.40 to $703.85 an ounce.

March copper HGH3 +0.70%  rose 2 cents to $3.68 per pound.

Gold drops on stalemate in U.S. budget talks

Precious-Gold dropped on Tuesday trading on renewed worries regarding the so-called U.S. fiscal cliff as officials did not reach a solution yet, thereby threatening both U.S. and global recovery.

The shiny metal slipped for a third straight session to trade around $1704.66 an ounce, where it found support at $1701.66, which represents the Simple Moving Average (SMA) 100 level on the daily charts, after it fell from a high of $1717.35.

The trading range for today is expected among the key support at $1690.00 and the key resistance now at $1730.00.

Still, the main director of market sentiment is the U.S. fiscal cliff; it threatens the world`s biggest economy of falling back into recession if $607 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts start in January.

Yesterday, House of Republicans suggested a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting plan, yet White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer replied that it “does not meet the test of balance.”

With the sluggish progress seen in U.S. budget talks the tensions are heightening and weigh on shares and commodities.

Gold is now moving with the U.S dollar as they both face downside pressure of the little progress in the budget negotiations.

The dollar index plummeted today to record a low of 79.80 after opening today`s trading at 79.89.

On the other hand, the euro is resuming its upside direction to six-week high versus the greenback after Greece said yesterday it would spend 10 billion euros to buy-back bonds via a modified Dutch auction.

Euro area finance ministers expressed their confidence that Greece will handle a successful bond buyback on Dec. 7, lifitng up expectations the debt crisis is abating.

Later in the day, European Union finance ministers will meet in Brussels to continue their pursuit to ease the three-year-old debt crisis.

Crude oil for January`s delivery inched down to $88.68 per barrel compared with the day`s opening level of $88.90.

Among other precious metals, silver retreated to $33.28 from the day`s opening of $33.32, platinum ticked down to $1592.75 from $1594.25, and palladium inched up to $678.60 from $678.40.

Gold drops on stalemate in U.S. budget talks

Precious-Gold dropped on Tuesday trading on renewed worries regarding the so-called U.S. fiscal cliff as officials did not reach a solution yet, thereby threatening both U.S. and global recovery.

The shiny metal slipped for a third straight session to trade around $1704.66 an ounce, where it found support at $1701.66, which represents the Simple Moving Average (SMA) 100 level on the daily charts, after it fell from a high of $1717.35.

The trading range for today is expected among the key support at $1690.00 and the key resistance now at $1730.00.

Still, the main director of market sentiment is the U.S. fiscal cliff; it threatens the world`s biggest economy of falling back into recession if $607 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts start in January.

Yesterday, House of Republicans suggested a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting plan, yet White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer replied that it “does not meet the test of balance.”

With the sluggish progress seen in U.S. budget talks the tensions are heightening and weigh on shares and commodities.

Gold is now moving with the U.S dollar as they both face downside pressure of the little progress in the budget negotiations.

The dollar index plummeted today to record a low of 79.80 after opening today`s trading at 79.89.

On the other hand, the euro is resuming its upside direction to six-week high versus the greenback after Greece said yesterday it would spend 10 billion euros to buy-back bonds via a modified Dutch auction.

Euro area finance ministers expressed their confidence that Greece will handle a successful bond buyback on Dec. 7, lifitng up expectations the debt crisis is abating.

Later in the day, European Union finance ministers will meet in Brussels to continue their pursuit to ease the three-year-old debt crisis.

Crude oil for January`s delivery inched down to $88.68 per barrel compared with the day`s opening level of $88.90.

Among other precious metals, silver retreated to $33.28 from the day`s opening of $33.32, platinum ticked down to $1592.75 from $1594.25, and palladium inched up to $678.60 from $678.40.