Gold Down as Dollar Continues to Strengthen
By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Monday morning in Asia as the dollar continued to strengthen. Investors now look to U.S. data for further clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s timetable to begin asset tapering.
Gold futures inched down 0.10% to $1,790.35 by 12:39 PM ET (4:39 AM GMT), having recorded a weekly decline of 2.1%. The dollar, which moves inversely to gold, inched up on Monday.
Investors await U.S. consumer price index data due on Tuesday, after Friday’s data showed that the producer price index (PPI) for August grew 0.7% month-on-month and 8.3% year-on-year. The core PPI grew 0.6% and 6.7% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said on Friday that she would still like the central bank to begin tapering asset purchases in 2021. Mester is one of a growing number of Fed officials who support beginning asset tapering sooner rather than later despite a weaker-than-expected August U.S. jobs report.
In Asia Pacific, China will release industrial production and fixed asset investment data on Wednesday.
On the demand side, physical gold demand in India was subdued during the previous week despite a correction in bullion prices. Consumers in most other Asian hubs also remained quiet as they await a clearer trend in global prices.
Data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed investors cut their net long positions in COMEX gold by 15,324 contracts to 83,540 in the week ended Sep. 7.
In other precious metals, platinum eased 0.1% to $955.01 per ounce, its lowest level since November 2020. Palladium hit its lowest level since August 2020, but clawed back some of its losses to trade up 0.3%. Silver was flat at $23.72.
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