The US dollar index was trading up approximately 60 basis points, and gold on the spot and future market moved up as well. However, there are a number of global monetary issues which may limit the upside for gold, and the risk appetite for commodity investors tends to decrease during global monetary instability. See the following article from The Street for more on this.
Gold prices were rising Monday, bucking a stronger U.S. dollar.
Gold for April delivery was rising $1.50 to $1,103.20 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have traded as high as $1,108.70 and as low as $1,101. The U.S. dollar index was adding 0.60% to $80.32. Spot gold was rising $3, according to Kitco’s gold index.
Gold is seeing solid buying around the $1,100 level, which is proving a support for prices. Also. a better-than-expected 0.1% rise in industrial production in February was helping gold tick higher. But upside is tempered as investors worry about possible rate-tightening in China and in the U.S.
An end to free money in China, often credited with jump-starting the global economy, would hurt investment demand for gold. Gold investors are also looking to the Federal Reserve’s Tuesday meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee to see if there will be any changes to U.S. monetary policy.
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Also weighing on gold is sovereign debt fears. Although the European Union has agreed to a multibillion-euro bailout for Greece through loans or loan guarantees, there are other countries at risk. Reportedly, Moody’s reaffirmed the credit ratings of Spain, U.S., the U.K., France and Germany but said that going forward the governments’ ability to manage rising debt will be a deciding factor in maintaining their triple-A status.
Spain was cited as being the country closest to “the Aaa/Aa demarcation line, which would prompt us to reassess its rating,” according to Reuters. Global monetary instability decreases investors’ appetite for riskier commodities. Although many analysts believe that in the long term, fiscal turmoil will boost gold’s appeal as a safe haven asset.
“We’re seeing both good buying and some overhead resistance putting some pressure on [gold],” says James Turk, founder of GoldMoney. “But my expectation is I think we are going to see strength over the course of this week and we’ll probably end the week up at the $1,140 area, which is where significant overhead resistance rests.”
Silver prices were rising 1 cents to $17.06 while copper was down 4 cents to $3.34.
Mining stocks, a more leveraged way to invest in gold, were mixed. Barrick Gold(ABX) was slipping 0.72% to $38.78 while Newmont Mining(NEM)Â was down 0.98% to $49.55. Other large cap miners Kinross Gold(KGC)Â and Goldcorp(GG) were slightly lower at $17.53 and $38.87, respectively.
Shares of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold(FCX) were sliding 0.89% to $79.81, while Yamana Gold(AUY) was giving up 1.79% to $9.88.
Shares of the popular physically backed ETF, SPDR Gold Shares(GLD) were higher by 0.19% to $108.16.
This article has been republished from The Street. You can also view this article at The Street, an investment news and analysis site.
