Bullion settle with minor gains

First-quarter gold demand was nearly unchanged from a year ago

Bullion metals ended moderately higher on Tuesday, 20 May 2014. Gold futures settled modestly higher for a second straight session on Tuesday, sticking to a tight trading range and finding little reason to rally after the World Gold Council reported that first-quarter gold demand was nearly unchanged from a year ago. Traders also positioned themselves ahead of several speeches from Federal Reserve officials this week and the central bank's minutes from the last meeting due out Wednesday.

Gold for June delivery rose 80 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,294.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

July silver tacked on nearly 5 cents, or 0.2%, at $19.40 an ounce.

It was a very light day for U.S. economic data on Tuesday. Traders are awaiting Wednesday afternoon's release of the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. That report is arguably the most important world data point of the week.

The feature in overnight trading was increasing worries about the European Union countries that have the most serious debt problemsnamely Italy and Spain. Italian bond yields rose to a five-week high overnight, while Spanish, Portuguese and Irish bond yields also rose.

Asian stock markets were mostly firmer on Tuesday, with no major news coming out of the region.

In a report on Tuesday, the World Gold Council said gold demand had a robust start to 2014, holding steady at 1,074.5 metric tons in the first quarter, compared with 1,077.2 metric tons seen in the same quarter a year earlier. The World Gold Council reported Tuesday that demand for gold bars and coins dropped by 39% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same time last year. India is the major reason for the drop, said the WGC, mainly due to government restrictions on gold imports.

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