Stock Market Watch

Gold Prices Pare Gains, Silver Prices Down More Than 1%

by ·


Gold prices pared initial gains to turn lower in Asian trading hours on Tuesday as the dollar strengthened  however, the metal remained near its one-month high level , supported by string buying orders from mainland China. Silver prices were also down in early trading on Monday.

At last check, gold futures for August delivery edged down 0.52% to $1,330.40 an ounce while spot gold fell 0.55% to $1,327.66 an ounce.

Earlier on Monday, the metal clocked more than 3% gains, aided by broadly weaker dollar and technical buying, which ensued after bullion breached the key resistance of $1,300 an ounce level.

Bullion has now added almost $150 an ounce, having hit its three year low level of $1,180.71 an ounce on June 28, showed a data provided by Reuters.

The demand for safe haven bets rose after the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in his latest congressional speech, reaffirmed the bank’s commitment towards pursuing an accommodating monetary policy. Bernanke said that the tapering of the multi-billion dollar bond purchase program was possible later this year but added it was (squeezing of economic stimulating measures) squarely depended on the economic outlook.

On Monday, a weaker-than-expected existing home sales data for June, accentuated the fact that the U.S. economy was not out of the woods, yet.

Speaking to Reuters, a Hong Kong based trader said on Tuesday, “People are more confident that the downside risk has subsided just a little bit. The message from the Fed was not too worrisome, as it was before.”

Meanwhile, the demand for physical gold also improved in China.

“Demand from China is quite healthy and has been a lot more reliable. It’s helping offset some of the losses from India, where demand has fallen off,” added the trader, according to Reuters.

Silver futures were down 1.38% to $ 20.22 an ounce.

In pre-market trading, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) was down 1.42%, and the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) was down 2.49%.

 








More Posts by this author

edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.

Tags:

Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

You may also like...