Gold and silver prices were lagging slightly Monday morning, awaiting the equity market's direction as the dollar showed some strength going into the week.
Gold futures were down $2.30 at $912.60 per ounce Monday morning in New York as commodity investors await news on the US economy's direction, watching equity markets closely for a sign.
Silver contracts were down 10 cents at $13.85.
In base metals, copper futures were down nearly 7 cents at $2.07per pound and aluminum contracts edged down 1 cent at 70.5 cents per pound.
The dollar index was trading up 0.18 against major foreign currencies with the Euro edged down 0.0042 at 1.3610. The Pound fell 0.0134 to 1.511 and the dollar traded down 1.1050 at 97.38 against the Japanese Yen.
Standard Bank commodity analyst Walter de Wet said, "Gold is still range-bound between $910 and $920, with little movement seen so far today."
"Gold could remain in the $910 - $920 range in the absence of any macroeconomic data," noted de Wet. "However, we would closely look at Mr Bernanke’s comments tonight on the US banks’ stress tests. Gold support is at $909 and $901, with resistance at $921 and $927."
The Standard Bank commodity analyst felt metals investors should eye silver futures more closely today, noting that "With industrial metals lower and gold showing little upward momentum, silver could see a move lower today."
Support in silver ranged between $13.70 and $13.85 and with silver prices down 10 cents per ounce Monday morning, any movement closer to the bottom of the metals' price support could spell a drop in futures prices in New York.
