Gold Slightly Higher in Lackluster Trading; Mild Short Covering Featured

New York (June 9)  Gold prices ended the U.S. day session slightly up Monday, on a tepid short-covering bounce and a bit of perceived bargain hunting after recent selling pressure. August Comex gold was last up $1.60 at $1,254.10 an ounce. Spot gold was last quoted up $1.70 at $1,254.50. July Comex silver last traded up $0.084 at $19.075 an ounce.

It was another listless trading day Monday. With no major geopolitical events making news headlines, and no major economic data out Monday, the gold and silver markets were quiet.

Higher crude oil prices were a bullish “outside market” for the precious metals Monday, but a higher U.S. dollar index was a bearish outside market as an offset.

A main theme in the market place continues to be the bull market runs in U.S. and other major world stock markets. With many of the leading world stock indexes at or near record or multi-year highs, other asset classes like raw commodities, including gold and silver, have seen trader and investor buying interest limited. With extremely low interest rates and scant worries about inflationary price pressures at present, “paper” assets like stocks and bonds have fared better, compared to “hard” assets that tend to see better demand during times of inflation or keener geopolitical uncertainty.

Source:  Kitco