By Claudia Assis and Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fluctuated between small gains and losses Monday on thin volumes, as lower prices enticed some investors back to the market but stronger U.S. equities took away some of the metal’s lure.
Gold for December delivery declined $3.60, or 0.2%, to $1,794.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
That follows a strong showing for gold on Friday, when the contract rose 1.9%, to settle at $1,797.30 an ounce.
Silver traded lower, with the September contract SI1U -0.43% off 23 cents, or 0.5%, to $40.73 an ounce.
“It’s primarily the risk trade back on, and that hurts gold a little bit,” said Matt Zeman, head trader and analyst at Kingsview Financial in Chicago.
Investors are coming back, however, after last week’s correction. “It’s definitely a buy-the-dips type of market,” he said.
Metals trading on Monday could be rife with volatility as London’s metals exchange is closed for a summer bank holiday.
U.S equities opened higher on relief that Hurricane Irene, while deadly, stopped short of creating complete havoc along the East Coast. Stocks cheered data showing U.S. consumers earned more and spent more last month.
Earlier Monday, the Commerce Department reported U.S. personal incomes rose 0.3% in July, with spending rising 0.8% as auto purchases surged. Read more about personal savings, income data.
Meanwhile, concerns about the sovereign-debt situation were brought back into focus as Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, said Saturday during a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., that the global economic recovery was “fragile.” She warned of a “dangerous new phase.”
Lagarde urged leaders of major central banks to keep interest-rate policies “highly accommodative,” in an apparent reference to recent tightening by the European Central Bank.
Also at Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke put off any discussion of economic easing measures until a policy meeting in late September and offered a positive view of prospects for the U.S. economy.
