Gold extends losses as dollar bounces
September 21, 2009
Singapore - Gold slipped further on Monday after a volatile time last week, when it raced towards last year's record around $1,030 an ounce before the dollar's rebound from a one-year low against the euro spurred selling.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was quoted at $1,005.60 an ounce, down $0.55 from New York's notional close on Friday. Gold hit an 18-month high of $1,023.85 on Thursday on uncertainties over the sustainability of the global economic recovery.
* International Monetary Fund member countries on Friday formally endorsed a plan for strictly limited sales of 403.3 tonnes of gold from its stockpile and said on-market sales would be made in a manner that did not disrupt gold markets.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood unchanged at 1,086.479 tons on September 18.
* The noncommercial net long position in gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange stood at an all-time high of 235,647 lots for the week ended Sept. 15, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
* US gold futures for December delivery fell $3.40 an ounce at $1,006.90 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
* Trading was thin in Asia, with Japanese markets closed for a long holiday. The physical market in Singapore was also closed for a Muslim holiday.
* Platinum was at $1,328 an ounce, up $1 from New York's notional close.
MARKET NEWS
* Oil was little changed just below $72 a barrel on Monday, pausing after a decline in the previous session that was encouraged by a bounce in the US dollar.
* US stocks rose on Friday as Procter & Gamble and major home builders advanced on positive brokerage comments and investors bet the economic recovery will be strong enough to sustain corporate profits.
* The dollar rebounded from a one-year low against the euro on Friday as waning risk appetite cut demand for higher-yielding currencies and boosted safe-haven demand for the greenback, while sterling declined and hit a near five-month low euro on renewed concerns about the UK banking sector.
* Indian gold buyers re-emerged on Friday to stock up for festivals as prices steadied after nearing their record high in the previous session. India celebrates the festival of Dussera later this month and Diwali and Dhanteras in October, a traditional gold-buying time that is expected to revive sagging gold sales. - Reuters
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