By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Gold futures moved higher Tuesday, amid a general rebound for commodities.
Gold for August delivery GC1Q +0.60% added $3.10, or 0.2%, to $1,499.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal traded as high as $1,504.40 earlier in the session.
“Gold and commodities have a positive relationship, [gold] is taking its cue from crude oil as well as copper,” Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore said.
“If there’s greater optimism, then commodities rally. The safe-haven buying is not really coming in for gold at this point in time,” she said.
Some optimism on Tuesday came from an increase for a key housing index, but consumer confidence numbers fell to its worst in eight months.
The Conference Board reported Tuesday its consumer confidence index fell to 58.5 in June from 61.7 in May, as consumers worried about the job market and income. Read more about consumer-confidence data.
U.S. homes, however, rose for the first time in eight months, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index. See more about the Case-Shiller.
Meanwhile, expectations are growing that the Greek parliament will vote this week in favor of more austerity measures, which would pave the way for the debt-stricken nation to secure its tranche of aid. Read more about Greece.
“It seems to be this week that flight to safety has diminished as the debt problems in Greece seem to be controlled at the moment,” said Frank Lesh, a broker and with FuturePath Trading in Chicago.
Gold’s pull as a safe-haven investment is losing traction lately as investors take on more risk and move capital to the equity market, Lesh said. Investors expect the vote in Greece will go through Wednesday, and that is likely to stabilize gold around $1,500 an ounce.
Meanwhile, the dollar traded lower versus major competitors. The dollar index DXY -0.48% declined to 74.953 from 75.452 in North American trade late Monday.
Commodities, which are priced in dollars, tend to trade inversely to the dollar.
Around the broader metals complex, silver for July delivery SI1N +1.21% gained 25 cents, or 0.7%, to $33.84 an ounce.
Copper for September delivery HG1U +1.12% added 4 cents, or 1%, to $4.11 a pound, while July platinum PL1N +1.14% put on $16.30, or 1%, to $1,689.30 an ounce.
