Sunday, July 26, 2009

Gold ends flat after touching 6-week high on weak dollar


Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange hit a six-week high on Thursday due to a weak dollar, but closed flat as the surging stock market reduced gold's appeal of safe-haven. Silver and platinum both gained.

Gold price for August delivery gained 1.50 U.S. dollars, or 0.2percent, to finish at 954.80 dollars an ounce while earlier in the session topping as high as 957.50 dollars, the strongest level since June 11.

Buoyed by the weak dollar, gold rose mildly in the morning session. The dollar index, a gauge to measure the greenback's value against six other major currencies, declined as much as 0.38point, or 0.5 percent, weakening the precious metal's attraction as a hedge.

However, a series of positive earnings reports and upbeat data on the housing market buoyed the equity market on Thursday with the Dow Jones industrials rising 188 points to 9,069, above the 9,000 mark for the first time since early January.

Analysts indicated that the big rally in stock market undermined gold's appeal of safe-haven and lured investors to pour their money into stocks.

On the economic fronts, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales rose for the third month in June, jumping3.6 percent. That fueled hopes that the housing market is stabilizing.

The Labor Department said that its tally of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 30,000 to a seasonally adjusted 554,000, slightly above analysts' estimates of 550,000.

September silver finished at 13.84 dollars per ounce, up 7 cents. October platinum rose 12.30 dollars to 1,188 dollars an ounce.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 

FOREX NEWS Copyright © 2008 Green Scrapbook Diary Designed by SimplyWP | Made free by Scrapbooking Software | Bloggerized by Ipiet Notez