MW:Gold futures extend gains in electronic trading
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Gold futures gained in electronic trading during Asian hours Monday, extending an advance from the end of last week.
Gold for April delivery GCJ2 +0.03% edged up 30 cents to $1,662.70 an ounce.
On Friday, the precious metal rebounded 1.2%, or $19.90 an ounce to settle at $1,662.40 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange as the U.S. dollar weakened. Read more on Friday's gold market action.
Gold futures have lost 2.8% so far this month, according to FactSet data, and Julian Jessop at Capital Economics said last week that gold has been undermined by three main factors.
Those factor were the “emerging consensus that U.S. interest rates may rise sooner than previously anticipated and that there will be no further quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve in the meantime; the return of a degree of confidence in the U.S. dollar; and fading concerns about the problems in the euro zone,” he said.
Other commodity futures have also softened recently, with silver, platinum and copper currently showing month-to-date losses, led by a 7.1% drop for platinum.
On Monday, copper for May delivery HGK2 +0.17% edged up 1 cent to $3.82 a pound. April platinum PLJ2 +0.50% rose $9.30 to $1,637.40 an ounce.
May silver futures SIK2 -0.32% declined 10 cents to $32.17 an ounce.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
