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Gold prices declined on Tuesday as a recovering U.S. dollar took its toll, with prices posting their fifth loss in six sessions after the biggest pullback since February last week.
Price action
-
Gold futures for June delivery
GCM23,
+0.02%
fell by $2.70, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,974.50 per ounce on Comex. Prices for the most-active contract haven’t settled above $2,000 since May 15, FactSet data show. -
July silver futures
SIN23,
-1.16%
declined by 24 cents, or 1%, to $23.62 an ounce. -
Palladium for June
PAM23,
-2.69%
fell by $45.50, or nearly 3.1%, to $1,446.70 per ounce, while July platinum
PLN23,
-1.68%
declined by $19.70, or 1.8%, to $1,057.60 per ounce. -
Copper for July delivery
HGN23,
-1.22%
fell by 3 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.65 per pound.
Market drivers
Gold prices have pulled back since the most-active contract logged its second-highest settlement on record on May 4. It was the highest settlement since the all-time high reached in August 2020.
Short-term price action on gold continues to “frustrate” the gold bulls ever since it failed to hold its break out to a new record high this month, said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at StoneX, in market commentary.
In short, gold has been falling because of a “rebounding U.S. dollar, putting pressure on all buck-denominated metals,” he said . “We have also seen bond yields rise noticeably in recent days, reducing the appeal of zero-yielding assets like gold and silver.”
In Tuesday dealings, the ICE U.S. Dollar index
DXY,
was up 0.3% at 103.48, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
was slightly lower at 3.96%, but has climbed month to date.
Also see: Stocks may take a hit by June if the dollar keeps rising, analyst says
Optimism over the U.S. debt ceiling development has dampened gold’s haven appeal, said Lukman Otunuga, manager, market analysis at FXTM.
“This promises to be another volatile week for the precious metal thanks to the cocktail of risk events and economic releases,” he said in emailed commentary. “If U.S. debt talks continue to head in the right direction and hopes continue to rise over a deal reached, this could drag prices lower as risk appetite returns.”
Expect gold to also be influenced by the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s May policy meeting due out Wednesday afternoon and key U.S. data including the inflation report on Friday, said Otunuga.
On Tuesday, data showed S&P Flash U.S. services-sector index rose to a 13-month high of 55.1 in May from 53.6 in the prior month, while the S&P Global U.S. manufacturing sector index slipped to 51 from 52.4.
