Bullions shed close to a percent

A strong US dollar index takes away the shine

Bullion metal prices ended lower on Tuesday, 14 May 2013. Comex gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately lower Tuesday, on bearish outside market forces, a stronger U.S. dollar index and weaker crude oil prices.

Gold for June delivery ended lower by $9.8 (0.7%) at $1,424.5 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.

July silver ended lower by $0.32 cents (1.3%) at $23.38 an ounce on Tuesday.

The rallying U.S. and world stock markets continue to be a major bearish underlying factor for safe-haven gold, as well as other investment asset classes. As the U.S. and Japanese stock markets hit record or multi-year highs, they and other world stock markets continue to pull away investor monies from the other asset classes. The major central banks of the world continue to flaunt their easy-money policies, which have driven interest rates to extremely low levels for an extended period of time.

It was an uneventful overnight trade in Asia and Europe Tuesday. Fresh economic data from Europe was mixed Tuesday. The German ZEW index for May came in at 36.4 versus 36.3 in April, but below expectations of 39.5. However, European Union industrial production rose 1.0% in March, the largest monthly increase in 1.5 years.

Australia's government budget was released on Tuesday and it hinted further easing of that country's monetary policy is very possible. That news dropped the Aussie dollar to an 11-month low versus the greenback.

Investors considered the possible curtailing of monetary-policy stimulus by the Fed. The central bank's easy monetary policy tends to raise the risk of inflation, as well as put pressure on the dollar. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and as a dollar-denominated commodity, can benefit from a weaker dollar.

In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.3% on Tuesday.

Among economic data expected at Wall Street on Tuesday, it was limited to export and import prices. Export prices, excluding agriculture, decreased by 0.5% in April after they had decreased 0.2% during the prior month. Excluding oil, import prices declined 0.2%, which follows last month's decline of 0.2%.

At the MCX, gold prices for June delivery closed lower by Rs 147 (0.54%) at Rs 26,707 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 26,918 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 26,652 per 10 grams during the day's trading.

At the MCX, silver prices for July delivery closed lower by Rs 602 (1.33%) at Rs 44,516/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 45,054/kg and fell to a low of Rs 44,152/Kg during the day's trading.

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