By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY(MarketWatch) — Gold futures edged higher for the seventh straight day in electronic trading Wednesday, after some relatively positive developments out of debt-stricken Greece failed to reignite investors’ appetite for risk.
Gold for August delivery GC1Q +0.05% edged up 50 cents to $1,546.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
Silver diverged, with the July contract SI1Q -0.10% falling 5 cents, or 0.2%, to $36.33.
Late Tuesday the Greek government won a key confidence vote, paving the way for the country to approve additional austerity measures and receive further financial aid. Read more about Greece.
The outcome wiped away fears of an imminent default by the debt-plagued nation, and helped buoy Asian equity markets Wednesday. Read more on Asian stocks.
Chintan Karnani, chief analyst at Insignia Consultants in New Delhi, said that while metal markets are being guided by macroeconomic forces, technical factors are also at play.
“Gold has to break $1,555- to $1,560-an-ounce zone. Once that breaks out, there will be some short-covering,” Karnani said.
Market participants are awaiting the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting committee meeting and press-conference from Chairman Ben Bernanke, slated for later Wednesday.
“The main thing is how long will the Fed continue with an easy monetary stance, and whether any quantitative easing will be announced. If the injection of liquidity into the system is not announced, we might see a correction to $1,530 or maybe $1,510, then another move higher,” Karnani said.
The broader metals complex traded mixed in Asian trading Wednesday.
July copper HG1N -0.22% lost 3 cents, or 0.7%, to trade at $4.06 a pound.
Platinum for July delivery PL1N +0.33% gained $4.00, or 0.2%, to $1,751.20 an ounce, while September palladium PA1U +0.12% lost 25 cents to $767.00.
The dollar index DXY -0.02% which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six other major currencies, rose to 74.752, from 74.562 late Tuesday. Read more about currencies.
Demand for gold and other dollar-priced commodities tends to decline as the dollar strengthens.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
