SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures declined Monday, with prices pulling back by as much as $26 an ounce as strength in the U.S. dollar dampened interest in metals.
Gold for April delivery (XCEC:GC2J) declined $15.40, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,724.90 an ounce on Comex
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell by as much as
$26.30 to touch a low of $1,714 an ounce earlier.
Upbeat data on U.S. employment helped fuel a drop of $19 in gold on Friday, as its safe-haven appeal took a hit. Read more on Friday’s gold session.
A stronger dollar added further pressure to gold on Monday. The dollar index (IFUS:DX-Y.NYB), which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, traded at 79.135, from 78.969 in late North American trading on Friday.
A rising greenback is a negative for gold and other dollar-priced commodities as it makes them more expensive to holders of other currencies. Read more on Monday’s currencies trading.
Gold traded lower Monday “due to dollar strength, oil weakness, and renewed short-term correlation with equities due to concerns about the intractable Greek debt crisis,” said Mark O’Byrne, an executive director at GoldCore.
U.S. stocks traded lower and oil also lost as investors
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