Gold price stagnant, psychological $1,100 level unsustainable

Frankfurt (Aug 3) The gold price was little change during Monday’s early-European sessions, with spot gold last at $1,096.20/$1,097 per ounce, a $0.20 increase on the previous day’s close.

Sentiment shifted on Friday as negative data from the US helped spur the metal above the psychologically important $1,100 per ounce to $1,103, but it failed to hold above this level. “Gold may remain weak in the near term until prices convincingly break above this threshold,” HSBC said.

A lack of demand is weighing on the yellow metal. Barclays Capital noted that the latest data for the second quarter revealed tepid results, while demand growth in China has slowed and Indian data showed appetite for the metal was weak. In currencies, the euro was last at 1.0978 against the dollar.

Silver at $14.73/14.79 was little changed from Friday’s close of $14.76, while platinum at $981/986 was unchanged and palladium increased $4 to 612/617.

Source: FastMarkets