By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures edged higher Monday after a U.S. manufacturing survey was positive but remained under some pressure following steep gains in the previous session and a quarterly advance of 6.7%.
Gold futures for June delivery GCM2 +0.50% rose $6.70, or 0.4%, to $1,678.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold gained 1% Friday, ending the quarter with a steep advance.
The metal started to notch gains moments before manufacturing data, and gained some momentum as the Institute for Supply Management’s index rose to 53.4% in March from 52.4% in February.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected a rise to 53.5%.
Meanwhile, jewelers in India, one of the world’s largest markets for the yellow metal, are expected to reopen for business after a two-week strike protesting an increase in duties, analysts at India’s ICICI Bank said in a note.
They expected gold to trade in a range between $1,650 and $1,690 an ounce.
Among the broader suite of metals, silver also turned positive, with the May contract SIK2 +1.20% up 4 cents, or 1.3%, to $32.92 an ounce.
May copper HGK2 +1.49% rose 6 cents, or 1.5%, to $3.88 a pound, adding to gains after the manufacturing data.
“Overall copper remains the strongest metal and should benefit from the better Chinese sentiment and by what is expected to be a strong jobs number out of the U.S. at week’s end,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said.
Official manufacturing data in China on Sunday showed the purchasing managers’ index in a fourth month of improvement, at 53.1 in March from 51 for February.
A final report from HSBC and financial-services consultant Markit showed a PMI at 48.3 in March, down from 49.6 in February. Read a report on the differences between the two surveys.
