Bullion metal prices ended substantially lower on Tuesday, 18 June 2013 at Comex. Comex gold futures prices ended the U.S. day session lower as traders focused on the possibility the U.S. Federal Reserve will signal that it's prepared to slow the flow of monetary stimulus.
Gold for August delivery ended lower by $16.2 (1.2%) at $1,366.9 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.
July silver ended lower by $0.08 cents (0.4%) at $21.68 an ounce on Tuesday.
In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.2% on Tuesday.
The higher U.S. stock market on Tuesday was also a bearish element for the precious metals, as it pulled in investor funds at the expense of other investment assets, including safe-haven gold. The market place anxiously awaited the results of the two-day meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC) that began Tuesday morning and concludes Wednesday afternoon. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will also hold a press conference following the FOMC meeting. Traders and investors will be looking for fresh information from the Fed on if, when and by what degree it will start to wind down its quantitative easing programs that have been in place for several years.
In other news, the Euro currency got some support on Tuesday from a better-than-expected German ZEW consumer confidence survey for June. The survey also saw respondents reckon that German economic activity would pick up as the year progresses. The Japanese stock market was slightly lower in quieter trading on Tuesday. The world is keeping a closer eye on Japan's Nikkei stock index, thinking it could be a leading indicator of what is to come for the other major world stock markets.
Regarding economic data expected at Wall Street, new home sales for the month of May hit an annualized rate of 914,000, which was short of the 950,000 expected by the consensus. Notably, single-family starts increased a minuscule 0.3% in May from 597,000 in April to 599,000. The lack of solid rebound after 4.2% decline in April could signal a slowdown in overall construction levels.
Separately, consumer prices increased 0.1% in May, which was the first increase since February after prices fell 0.2% in March and 0.4% in April. The consensus expected the CPI to increase 0.2%. Surprisingly, the higher-than-expected food and energy prices from the May PPI did not pass through to consumer prices.
At the MCX, gold prices for August delivery closed higher by Rs 98 (0.35%) at Rs 27,967 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 28,119 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 27,840 per 10 grams during the day's trading.
At the MCX, silver prices for July delivery closed higher by Rs 111 (0.4%) at Rs 44,001/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 43,700/kg and rose to a high of Rs 44,240/Kg during the day's trading.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
