MW:Gold rises in electronic trade ahead of U.S. data
By Virginia Harrison and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch)—Gold futures moved higher in electronic trading Tuesday, as investors awaited a raft of data coming out of the U.S.
Gold for December delivery GCZ2 +0.14% added $6.40, or 0.4%, to $1,771.00 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during European trading hours.
The precious metal declined $13.40, or 0.8%, on Monday to end at $1,764.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Read: gold futures drop nearly 1%.
The metal is trading up nearly 5% this month as policy action by central banks in the U.S., Europe and Asia encouraged buyers to seek tangible assets amid fears of inflation.
“On the charts, for now, the markets are generally holding up well and may well be forming bull-flags. [However,] the overall economic climate still looks depressed,” said William Adams, head of research at FastMarket, in a note.
“Going forward we expect much will depend on whether there is follow through buying after the initial reactions to the four recent episodes of QE/stimulus,” he said.
Lynette Tan, senior investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said seasonal demand trends present further upside for the metal.
“Gold demand traditionally rises in the last quarter of the year in India and China, as consumers buy gold for festival celebrations and weddings,” she said. India and China are the world’s top two gold buyers.
Later in the session, investors looked to a busy day on the economic agenda. The U.S. Case-Shiller home-price index for July is due at 9 a.m. Eastern time, while the September consumer-confidence index and the Federal Housing Finance Agency home price index for July are released an hour later.
In the wider metals complex, December silver SIZ2 +0.34% was up 19 cents, or 0.6%, to $34.17 an ounce.
Copper futures HGZ2 +0.54% for the same month’s delivery put on 3 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.76 a pound.
Palladium for December delivery PAZ2 -0.02% inched up $1.25 to $646.75 an ounce, after slumping nearly 4% on Monday.
October platinum futures PLV2 -0.10% fell $2.50, or 0.2%, to $1,619.50 an ounce.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
