Gold prices on Tuesday held firm
near four-month highs hit in the previous session, buoyed after the US dollar
slumped to three-year lows against a basket of currencies on Monday.
Fundamentals
Spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at
$1,341.28 an ounce by 0054 GMT, after touching its strongest since Sept. 8 at
$1,344.44 the session before.
US gold futures were up 0.5 per
cent at $1,341.70 an ounce.
US markets were closed for a
holiday on Monday.
The dollar index on Monday
dropped to its lowest since December, 2014 at 90.279 . It was last down 0.5 per
cent at 90.483.
Asian shares slumped on Tuesday,
as miners were pressured by weaker Chinese iron ore prices, while the euro
stood near a 3-year peak on rising expectations that the European Central Bank
could pare its monetary stimulus.
ECB rate-setter Ardo Hansson on
Monday said the central bank could end its bond purchase scheme in one go after
September if the economy and inflation develop as expected.
Crude oil prices got a lift to
their highest levels since December, 2014, helped by the dollar's recent
weakness as well as signs that production cuts by OPEC and Russia are
tightening supplies.
Palladium marked a record-high of
$1,138 an ounce on Monday. It was last down 0.1 per cent at $1,124.50 early on
Tuesday. The metal has seen a sustained rally from high demand in the auto
industry amid a supply deficit.
Russia's largest gold miner
Polyus said on Monday that plans to sell a 10 per cent stake to a consortium
led by China's Fosun International had been dropped after one of the conditions
of the agreement was not met.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said on Monday Moscow will not support attempts by Washington to modify
the Iran nuclear deal, arguing such a move could also complicate diplomacy over
North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
India's December gold imports
were up 71.52 per cent at $3.39 billion.
Read more at:
Source: Economictimes
No comments:
Post a Comment