By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Gold futures declined in Asian trading hours on Monday, as investors looking for a safer harbor turned to the U.S. dollar.
Gold for June delivery GCM2 -0.80% fell $11.40 an ounce to $1,648.70 in electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The losses for gold coincided with an advance for the dollar index. The U.S. currency Monday extended an advance started at the end of last week when concern about Europe’s finances rose along with Spanish 10-year government bond yields and Chinese growth figures disappointed. Read more on dollar
The dollar index DXY +0.23% traded at 80.116 in Asian hours, up from 79.828 in late North American trading on Friday.
Gold notched gains of 1.8% last week, benefiting substantially at one point from hopes of more quantitative easing in the U.S.
Other metals also lost ground on Monday, with May copper HGK2 -1.37% trading down 5 cents at $3.58 per pound.
Silver for May delivery SIK2 -0.27% fell 7 cents to $31.32 an ounce.
Platinum for July delivery PLN2 -1.00% lost $15.80 to $1,572.50 an ounce, while palladium for June delivery PAM2 -0.26% fell $4.30 to $642.90 an ounce.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
