Gold Price Drifts Lower As Dollar Firms Up

New York (Oct 8)  Gold fell alongside equity markets on Monday and the dollar extended last week's gains as investors fretted about rising Treasury yields, a collapse in Chinese growth and a worsening row between Italy and the EU.

Spot gold was down 0.63% at USD1,193.65 an ounce while US gold futures were down 0.69% at USD1,197.30.

Equity markets across Asia and Europe tumbled, with China's Shanghai Composite index falling as much as 3.72% to register its biggest single-day fall since February as traders returned to their desks after a week-long holiday.

Some regions and companies have been affected by the ongoing trade war with the US, but the country has the capabilities to minimize the impact, China's Finance Minister Liu Kun has said.

His comments came as the country's central bank reduced the reserve requirement ratio for banks for the fourth time this year.

In a statement released Sunday, the People's Bank of China said that it will reduce the ratio of cash that banks should retain as reserves by 100 basis points, with effect from October 15. The latest 1 percentage point cut is set to release USD175 billion.

AllianceNews