Gold Weaker, Pressured by Rebound in U.S. Dollar

(Kitco News) -Gold saw slight gains faded by afternoon trading and prices finished the U.S. day session modestly lower Tuesday. The U.S. dollar index staged a rally from lower price levels seen earlier in the day, and that helped to put some downside price pressure on gold and silver. December Comex gold was last down $3.40 at $1,085.90 an ounce. September Comex silver was last down $0.035 at $14.48 an ounce.

The market place is quieter this week as the summertime doldrums have set in for European and North American traders.

In overnight news, producer prices in the Euro zone were down 0.1% in June, month-on-month, and down 2.2% year-on-year. This is another clue that world deflationary pressures have not gone away and in fact are creeping back into discussions on world economic health matters. The European Central Bank would like to see an annual inflation rate of up 2.0%. There was a U.S. personal consumption report on Monday that did give a bit more upbeat view on the U.S. inflation front, showing that consumer price inflation is creeping up a bit, but still below where the Federal Reserve wants it to be.

India’s central bank kept its interest rates unchanged, it was announced Tuesday. No change in rates was expected for the third-largest economy in Asia. Australia’s central bank also held its interest rates steady, it was reported Tuesday.

While it’s a busy week for U.S. economic data, including Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department, many traders and investors are focusing on family vacations in August, before the start of the new school year. European market activity slows way down during most of the month of August. The market place is likely to be generally quieter until after the U.S. Labor Day holiday in early September.

The London P.M. gold fix is $1,090.65 versus the previous A.M. fix of $1,092.60.

Courtesy: Kitco News