Forexpros – Gold futures trimmed losses on Monday, coming off their lowest levels of the day after the release of U.S. economic data painted a mixed picture of the country’s economic recovery, while concerns over high Spanish borrowing costs persisted.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery traded at USD1,657.95 a troy ounce during early U.S. morning trade, shedding 0.15%.
It earlier fell by as much as 1.1% to trade at USD1,642.25 a troy ounce, the lowest since April 10.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,613.55 a troy ounce, the low from April 4 and resistance at USD1,685.25, the high from April 2.
Gold’s modest recovery coincided with the U.S. dollar trimming gains against the euro after official data showed that retail sales in the U.S. increased more-than-expected in March, building on the previous month’s strong gain.
The Commerce Department said that retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in March, beating expectations for a modest 0.3% gain.
February’s figure was revised to a 1.0% increase from a previously reported gain of 1.1%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, rose by 0.8% last month, above expectations for a 0.6% gain, after rising by 0.9% in February.
A separate report showed that an index of manufacturing conditions in New York deteriorated in April, growing at the slowest pace since November.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index declined by 13.6 points to 6.6 in April from 20.2 in March. Analysts had expected the index to decline by 2.2 points to 18.0 in April.
Gold traders will be paying close attention to U.S. data releases in the second quarter for clues as to the likelihood of a fresh round of monetary easing.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up a modest 0.05% to trade at 80.07, after being up by as much as 0.32% earlier.
Gold futures were sharply lower during Asian and early European trading hours as mounting fears over surging Spanish borrowing costs prompted investors to shun riskier assets and move in to the relative safety of the U.S. dollar.
The cost of insuring Spanish sovereign debt against default rose to a fresh record earlier, amid fears that the country will be the next euro zone member to require a bailout.
Spanish 10-year yields rose above the key 6.0%-level in early trade Monday, hitting 6.15%, the highest since December 1. Similar-maturity Italian yields increased to 5.66%, while Portuguese yields climbed to 12.73%.
There have been renewed concerns of further debt contagion in the euro zone in recent weeks amid fears Spain will be the next in the euro zone to require a bailout.
Although gold’s appeal as a safe haven is boosted during times of economic uncertainty, the euro zone’s debt crisis has done little to bolster appetite for the precious metal in recent months. A weakening euro and stronger dollar have weighed on gold instead.
Market sentiment looked set to remain fragile ahead of an auction of two and 10-year Spanish governments bonds later in the week, which is being seen as a key test of market appetite for the country’s debt.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for May delivery added 0.8% to trade at USD31.63 a troy ounce, while copper for May delivery eased up 0.15% to trade at USD3.633 a pound.
The CME Group, which is the operator of the Comex, said late Friday that it will cut margins for silver and copper futures effective after the close of business on April 16.
The amount that speculators must keep on deposit for an initial account in silver futures was reduced 13% to USD18,900 from USD21,600, while the copper margin was cut to USD5,400 from USD6,750.
Forexpros
