RE: PRECIOUS-Gold steady on Greece debt fear, soft US data
Sun May 29, 2011 8:58pm EDT
SINGAPORE, May 30 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Monday
underpinned by a soft dollar, as concerns about Greece's debt
crisis as well as sluggish U.S. consumer and housing market data
supported appetite in bullion.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold steadied at $1,535.45 an ounce by 0038
GMT. It gained 1.8 percent last week.
* U.S. gold GCcv1 was little changed at $1,535.90.
* Amid worries about Greece's debt crisis, officials from
the International Monetary Fund and the European Union said they
do not anticipate debt restructuring in Greece.
[ID:nLDE74S0K3][ID:nN2757212]
* Sluggish consumer spending and a seven-month low pending
home sales in Aprils stoked worries that the U.S. economic
recovery was losing momentum, dragging the dollar down to near a
three-week low hit on Friday against a basket of currencies.
[ID:nN271881]
* Commodity and financial markets in the United States and
the U.K. are closed on Monday for public holidays.
* Speculators in gold futures and options raised their net
long positions in the week ended May 24, while they continued to
cut length in silver and copper positions, the latest data from
the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
[ID:nEMS4HYGY2]
* Spot silver rose 1.1 percent to $38.32, building on
last week's 8.1 percent ascent. U.S. silver gained 1.2
percent to $38.33.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click
, or
* Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao expects spot gold
to retrace to $1,513 per ounce as a wave "c" rebound has
completed. [ID:nL3E7GU010]
MARKET NEWS
* The Dow and S&P 500 closed out their fourth week of losses
with a small gain on Friday, but only with the help of a weaker
dollar boosting metals prices and basic materials stocks.
* U.S. crude futures were little changed on Monday,
hovering near a two-week high marked last week as a lack of
major economic data and the closure of U.S. financial markets
for the Memorial Day holiday kept investors from buying
actively.
