By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Gold futures extended losses into a fourth straight session as upbeat global data and a stronger dollar dimmed the yellow metal’s safe-haven appeal Monday.
Gold for February delivery GCG3 -0.14% gave up $2.20, or 0.1%, to $1,654.50 an ounce.
The losses come on the heels of a 1.8% decline seen last week, as upbeat global economic data in China, the U.S. and Germany as well as a rally in equities dulled gold’s traditional safe-haven attraction. On Friday, the contract settled at the lowest level since Jan. 9.
U.S. data releases were also teed up on Monday, with durable-goods orders and pending homes sales numbers due later in the session. Stock-index futures indicated a modestly stronger open for Wall Street. See: Stock futures steady ahead of Cat report, durables
Underscoring their inverse relationship, gold came under selling pressure as the U.S. dollar showed positive moves. The ICE dollar index DXY +0.03% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, rose to 79.88 from 79.762 in late North America trade on Friday. See: Dollar edges higher, as yen dives deeper
Among other metal contracts, silver for March delivery SIH3 -0.68% slumped 1% to $30.91 an ounce, while April platinum PLJ3 +0.26% gave up 0.4% to $1,688.30 an ounce.
On a more upbeat note, March copper HGH3 +0.40% rose 0.2% to $3.66 a pound and March palladium PAH3 +0.84% added 0.3% to $743.50 an ounce.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter based in London. Follow her on Twitter @sarasjolin.
