DUBAI: Gold held steady early Monday, ahead of the US Independence day holiday, as the dollar hovered at near nine-month lows hit last week on signs of monetary tightening by global central banks. The price of 24k gold in Dubai is priced at Dh150 and 22k can be purchased at Dh141. Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,241.04 per ounce at 0043 GMT. It fell over 2 percent in the month of June, its first monthly decline this year. US gold futures for August delivery fell 0.1 percent to $1,240.80 per ounce. The dollar edged off a nine-month low against a basket of currencies early on Monday, but it remained shaky as expectations of central banks in Europe moving away from accommodative monetary policies supported peers like the euro and sterling.
Holdings at the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.14 percent to 852.50 tonnes on Friday from 853.68 tonnes on Thursday. Hedge funds and money managers reduced their net long positions in COMEX gold and silver for the third straight week in the week to June 27, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. US Mint American Eagle gold coin sales in the first half of 2017 were the lowest for this period in a decade, while sales of silver in the period were the weakest since 2008, government data showed on Friday. South African precious metals producer Sibanye Gold said on Friday it would resume production on Monday at its strike-hit Cooke mine, which has been incurring losses amid illegal mining and production interruptions.
The Federal Reserve on Friday awarded $398.88 billion in repurchase agreements at an interest rate of 1.00 percent to 79 bidders, which was the highest amount since $468.36 billion on Dec. 30, the New York Federal Reserve said. US consumer spending rose modestly in May and inflation cooled, pointing to a slow-but-steady economic expansion that could still lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by the end of the year. Hedge funds and money managers trimmed their bullish bets on US crude oil to the lowest in more than nine months, data showed on Friday, as growing shale production kept inventories well above the five-year average.
