Gold prices are steady in Monday trading, as the precious metal takes a breather after some strong gains late last week. Gold has climbed above $1300, with a spot price of $1302.06 in the European session. Continuing violence and tensions in Ukraine have helped boost gold prices. On the release front, today's only US release is Pending Home Sales. The markets are expecting a strong showing in the upcoming release.
Gold has been on the move, benefitting from continuing trouble in Ukraine, as nervous investors look to gold as a safe-haven for their assets. The metal climbed above the $1300 on Friday. Talks between the West and Russia over the Ukraine crisis have bogged down, and the US and EU is expected to slap new sanctions on Russia. Pro-Russian rebels have taken over some strategic positions in eastern Ukraine and have clashed with Ukrainian government forces. With thousands of Russian troops conducting drills on the border with Ukraine, the situation is very tense and could deteriorate very quickly.
The US housing sector continues to sputter. New Home Sales was a disaster, as the key indicator plunged to 384 thousand in March, down from 440 thousand in the previous release. The weak reading was nowhere near the estimate of 455 thousand, and marked an eight-month low for the key housing indicator. Existing Home Sales has also been on a sustained downward trend. The indicator edged lower in March to 4.59 million, although this did beat the estimate of 4.57 million. The markets are expecting better news from Pending Home Sales on Monday.
