By Claudia Assis and Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures declined Monday, as investors looking for a safer harbor turned to the U.S. dollar and bonds and as data on March retails sales came in upbeat.
Gold for June delivery GCM2 -0.75% fell $5.90, or 0.3%, to $1,654.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The metal “has been unable to resist the general downward spiral” that hit commodities and some equity markets earlier on Monday, analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients.
“Alongside the generally higher degree of risk aversion — from which gold is not profiting, however — the U.S. dollar is weighing on the price,” they said.
The U.S. currency extended an advance that 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
A stronger dollar’s detrimental for commodity futures as it makes them more expensive to holders of other currencies. The dollar index DXY +0.14% stood lately at 79.993, up from 79.828 late Friday.
For gold, appreciation in the greenback also rocks a cornerstone of gold investing — the metal as an alternative to the paper currency.
U.S. retail sales for March rose sharply, up 0.8%, rising for the third straight month and providing some hope that the economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter. Read more about retail sales.
Gold notched gains of 1.8% last week, mainly benefiting from hopes of more quantitative easing in the U.S.
Other metals also lost ground on Monday, with platinum futures trading around their lowest since January.
Platinum for July delivery PLN2 -1.05% lost $14.40, or 0.9%, to $1,573.50 an ounce.
May copper HGK2 -0.90% retreated 3 cents, or 0.8%, at $3.59 per pound.
Silver bucked the trend, with May silver SIK2 +0.05% advancing 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $31.44 an ounce.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
