By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Gold prices fell Tuesday, marking the second day of declines as investors weighed preliminary data showing manufacturing activity in China picked up a bit, marking a positive start to the first major batch of economic data for the third quarter.
Comex gold for August GCQ2 -0.20% delivery was down $3.80 or 0.2% 1,573.60 an ounce. In Monday’s regular U.S. session, gold finished down $5.40, or 0.3%, to $1,577.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A preliminary July survey of Chinese manufacturing conditions released Tuesday by HSBC showed overall activity at its strongest level in five months. China’s factory gauge hits strongest level in months
Capital Economics’s London-based analyst Qinwei Wang singled out the subcomponents of the PMI for output and new orders as among data points that showed “the improvements were broadly based.”
He also noted input and output prices ticked higher, but have enough leeway to allow policy makers ample room for further easing this year.
In other precious-metals trading, silver for September SIU2 -0.34% delivery was down 0.4% or 11 U.S. cents at $26.93 an ounce. Silver for September delivery lost 26 cents, or 1%, to end at $27.04 an ounce in Monday’s regular U.S. session.
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
