Gold Firmer, Supported By Sell-Off in U.S. Dollar

Author: Paul Ploumis03 Jun 2015 Last updated at 05:28:36 GMT

(Kitco News) - Gold prices ended the U.S. day session firmer Tuesday on a short-covering and bargain-hunting bounce from recent selling pressure. Also, the U.S. dollar index was sharply lower Tuesday, which worked in favor of the precious metals and the raw commodity sector bulls. The greenback and its daily movements continue to exert a keen influence over the metals and many other markets. August Comex gold was last up $5.10 at $1,193.80 an ounce. July Comex silver was last up $0.10 at $16.78 an ounce.

The other key “outside market” on Tuesday was also bullish for the metals, as crude oil prices were higher and hit a two-week high. On tap late this week is a key OPEC oil cartel meeting in Vienna, Austria. The Saudi Arabian oil minister says OPEC’s strategy of not cutting its production is working at weeding out the not-so-strong producers—namely U.S. shale producers.

Reports overnight said meetings between Greece and its European Union/International Monetary Fund creditors in Berlin have made good progress and terms of a draft deal have been reached and could be finalized this week. The Euro currency was lifted on this news. However, “the devil is in the details” and the market place has heard similar positive media reports in recent weeks. There are still many European market watchers who believe Greece will ultimately default on its sovereign debt obligations.

It’s an important week for world economic news. The ECB meets Wednesday for its regular monetary policy meeting. And the big U.S. economic report of the week will come with Friday’s U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department.

The London P.M. fix is $1,192.80 versus the previous A.M. fixing of $1,188.75.

Courtesy: Kitco News