Mixed finish for bullions

Gold slips but silver ends higher

It was a mixed finish for bullions on Monday, 02 June 2014. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately lower on Monday, after hitting a four-month low in overnight trading. A firmer U.S. dollar index was a bearish factor that worked against the precious metals on Monday. There was also a lack of major, markets-moving fundamental news in the market place at present. However, that could change in the coming days as a heavy slate of worldwide economic data comes out this week. Traders also digested the latest batch of global economic data.

Gold for August delivery fell $2, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,244 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange after topping $1,250 earlier.

July silver rose nearly 6 cents, or 0.3%, to $18.74 an ounce, though that was below an earlier high near $18.90.

U.S. economic data due released Monday included the ISM manufacturing report, which initially boosted the gold market just a bit when it was reported at a weaker-than- expected 53.2. However, that initial reported ISM figure was wrong, and the corrected figure of 56.0 was in line with previous expectations.

In overnight news, the Euro currency was under more selling pressure to start the trading week, which in turn gave a boost to the U.S. dollar index. The European Union's May manufacturing PMI came in at 52.2 versus 53.4 in April. The figure was just a bit weaker than market expectations and helped to pressure the Euro. Focus is turning to Thursday's monthly monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank.

Meantime, there was upbeat economic data from China released during the weekend. China's manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) came in at 50.8 in May versus 50.4 in April. Any reading above 50.0 suggests expansion. That news gave a lift to Asian and European stock markets, and is a positive for most raw commodity markets. China is the world's top consumer of raw commodities.

The big U.S. data point of the week is Friday's Labor Department employment situation report for May. The early forecast is for non-farm payrolls to have increased 215,000 in the report.

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