Forexpros – Gold futures traded flat to slightly higher in early U.S. trade Friday as investors anticipate the outcome of the Spanish bailout conference call and speculation runs high concerning potential Federal Reserve monetary stimulus measures.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Gold futures for August delivery traded at USD1577.95 a troy ounce climbing 0.02%.
It earlier traded at a session low USD1578.95 a troy ounce. Gold was likely to find support at USD1567.35 and resistance at USD1598.75.
Adding to gold’s mostly flat action, euro zone leaders will hold a conference call today to sign off on the terms of a EUR100 billion Spanish bank bailout package.
The call is expected to just focus on the Spanish bail out and not talk about Greek or Italian economic issues.
Markets are anticipating the euro zone consumer sentiment index, next week, that is widely expected to indicate a reading of negative 20, down from negative 19.8 a month ago.
The number has been down trending, having hit the lowest level since August 2009.
In addition, further pressuring gold demand, a gauge for manufacturing is forecasted to be 45.2 this month. Although higher than the 45.1 reading last month, it remains below the critical 50 level that separates economic expansion from contraction.
Markit Economics releases the numbers on July 24.
Yesterday, Spain sold 5 year bonds posting an average yield of 6.459, the highest since 2005.
Meanwhile, speculation that Ben Bernanke will institute monetary stimulus due economic slowdown signals in the U.S. is helping lift the precious metal.
Gold gained as much as 15% earlier this year to hit USD1,790 an ounce after the Fed said in January it would keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014 and indicated that it could introduce a fresh round of asset-purchases.
However, prices have lost almost 12% since late February, as the Fed failed to deliver more easing and amid concerns over the euro zone’s deepening debt crisis, which has fueled demand for the precious metal’s hedge, the greenback.
US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, added 0.27% to trade at USD83.20.
Elsewhere on the Comex, Silver for September delivery fell 0.95% to trade at USD26.960 a troy ounce while Copper for September delivery plunged 1.90% to trade at USD3.467 a pound.
&nb
Forexpros
