Gold again glides near six-month low

Gold again glided to its six months low on Monday, just as the currencies of key consumers weakened, making it exorbitant to purchase dollar-priced bullion.

While the anxiety of a trade dispute between the US and China has helped to push China’s yuan to its weakest level against the dollar in more than seven months, the Indian rupee is tilting near a record low against the dollar; Japan’s yen is seeing its weakest point since mid-May and the value of the euro has been damaged by the potential for a row over migration policy to fracture the German government.

The growth of the dollar has helped to drive down spot gold by more than eight percent from its April high of $1,365. It was down 0.3 percent at $1,249 an ounce on Monday, close to last Thursday’s low of $1,245, the weakest since early December.

The US gold futures for August delivery were down 0.3 percent at $1,250 an ounce.

The stronger dollar has dragged down gold in combination with a rapid decrease in funds’ bets on higher prices and the selling of gold held by exchange-traded funds (ETFs), said Société Générale analyst Robin Bhar in a monitored report. “It does seem to be a perfect storm for gold,” he said.

Funds and money managers have cut their net long position on the Comex exchange to the lowest since January 2016, while gold holdings by ETFs tracked by a survey are down 3.6 percent, or more than two-million ounces, from late May.

In other precious metals, silver was down 1 percent at $15 per oz, near Thursday’s six-and-a-half-month low of $15.

Platinum was down 1 percent at $838 an ounce after touching its lowest since January 2016 at $831, while palladium fell 0.6 percent to $947.

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