Advertisement 1

Gold slips from 4-week high as dollar, equities firm on coronavirus slowdown

Article content

Gold prices eased from a four-week high

on Tuesday, as the U.S. dollar and global equities strengthened

on signs of a slowdown in coronavirus-related deaths.

FUNDAMENTALS

Article content

* Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,657.67 per ounce, as

of 0110 GMT, after rising to a four-week high earlier in the

session. The metal climbed 2.8% on Monday.

* U.S. gold futures rose 1.7% to $1,723.

* The dollar was holding close to a near two-week high

scaled in the previous session.

* Asian markets looked poised on Tuesday to attempt another

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

day of gains after stocks rallied on signs of easing coronavirus

deaths, as oil prices resumed their decline on doubts about a

potential Saudi-Russian pact to cut output.

* Central banks have been turning to quantitative easing

(QE), or large-scale purchases of government bonds and other

financial assets to pump money into the economy.

* The Federal Reserve on Monday moved to bolster a new

small-business lending program by allowing banks to turn those

loans over to the U.S. central bank for cash, easing concerns

among banks about getting stuck holding the low interest loans.

* A near total closure of U.S. businesses as authorities try

to control the spread of the virus could make U.S. economic data

unreliable in the coming months and harder to get a clearer

picture of the severity of the recession caused by the virus.

* Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on Monday to

roll out an unprecedented economic stimulus package, equal to

20% of economic output, as his government vowed to take “all

steps” to battle the deepening fallout from the coronavirus.

* The virus is the European Union’s biggest ever challenge

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

and member-states must show greater solidarity so that the bloc

can emerge stronger from the economic crisis unleashed by the

pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday.

* Meanwhile, India’s gold imports plunged more than 73%

year-on-year in March to their lowest in 6-1/2 years as record

domestic prices and a lockdown to curb the outbreak squeezed

retail demand, a government source said on Monday.

* SPDR Gold Trust , the world’s largest gold-backed

exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.54% to 984.26

tonnes on Monday.

* Palladium rose 0.8% to $2,172.53 per ounce, while

platinum was steady at $735.26.

* Silver edged up 0.1% to $14.99 an ounce, having

touched a more than three-week high earlier in the session.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0600 Germany Industrial Output MM Feb

0730 UK Halifax House Prices MM March

(Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru, Editing by

Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

This Week in Flyers