Forexpros – Gold futures were down for a third day on Monday, as better-than-expected Japanese economic data helped ease fears over the global economic outlook, but losses were limited by a broadly weaker U.S. dollar.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery traded at USD1,743.95 a troy ounce during early European trade, edging 0.21% lower.
It earlier fell as much as 0.8% to trade at a daily low of USD1,729.55 a troy ounce.
Preliminary data released earlier in the day showed that Japan’s economy contracted less-than-expected in the second quarter, signaling the country is rebounding from March’s earthquake disaster at a faster rate than expected.
Japan’s gross domestic shrank by 0.3% in the second quarter, or 1.3% on an annualized basis. Analysts had expected Japan’s economy to contract by 0.9% in the quarter, or 2.5% on an annualized basis.
Elsewhere, government data released Friday showed that U.S. retail sales rose by 0.5% in July, the biggest gain in four months, easing fears over the pace of the U.S. economic recovery.
Meanwhile, last Thursday’s margin increase by the CME Group on gold futures continued to weigh on prices.
The CME Group, operator of the Comex raised the amount of cash that traders must deposit for speculative positions by 22% to USD7,425 per contract from USD6,075 per contract, pushing small investors out of the gold market as it raises the cost to trade a futures contract.
Prices remained supported as the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.17% to hit 74.58, the lowest since August 11.
Gold prices often move inversely to the U.S. dollar, as gold becomes less expensive for buyers using other currencies.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September advanced 0.63% to trade at USD39.35 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery added 0.43% to trade USD4.019 a pound.
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