Dull day for precious metals
Gold for February delivery fell $27.5 (1.6%) to settle at $1,670.7 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. Prices rose to a high of $1704.4 during intra day trading. Gold fell to three and half month low figures.
On Tuesday, March silver fell $0.61, or 1.9%, to settle at $31.67 an ounce. That is the lowest settlement in more than a month.
Attention of the market place remains on the U.S. "fiscal cliff" tax increases and spending cuts that is fast approaching. The market place still reckons odds are higher than not that there will be a last-minute agreement among U.S. lawmakers to avoid the fiscal cliff. The overall situation has been a bearish drag on many markets, including the raw commodities and stock markets.
In overnight news, Asian and European stock markets also pushed higher on the apparent progress on the U.S. fiscal cliff talks. Data from the European Union showed Spain's local banks held a record amount of bad debt in October as overall loans dropped to a five-year low. This is a reminder of the major financial and economic problems that EU leaders face in the coming months.
On Tuesday afternoon, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lifted Greece's credit rating from SD, or selective default, to B minus with a stable outlook, citing the completion last week of its distressed debt buyback.
The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.2% on Tuesday.
Among economic data expected for the day, the current account deficit for the third quarter totaled $107.5 billion, which was wider than the $104.2 billion deficit that had been broadly anticipated. This marks an improvement from the second quarter's $118.1 billion deficit.
In addition, the NAHB Housing Market Index for December registered a reading of 47. That is up from the prior month's revised reading of 45, and in-line with expectations.
At the MCX, gold prices for February delivery closed lower by Rs 276 (0.9%) at Rs 31,056 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 31,535 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 31,023 per 10 grams during the day's trading.
At the MCX, silver prices for March delivery closed lower by Rs 797 (1.3%) at Rs 60,687/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 61,607/kg and fell to a low of Rs 60,566/Kg during the day's trading.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News