Small gains for precious metals

Bullion metal prices ended little higher on Monday, 10 June 2013. Prices ended the U.S. day session with modest gains in quieter trading on Monday. Standard & Poors upgraded the U.S. government's credit rating from negative to stable on Monday morning, which did put some initial, modest downside price pressure on gold and boosted the U.S. dollar index to its daily high. The impact of that news was short-lived, however, as gold prices drifted back toward unchanged shortly thereafter.

Gold for August delivery ended higher by $3 (0.2%) at $1,386 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.

July silver ended higher by $0.19 cents (0.8%) at $21.93 an ounce on Monday.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard in a speech Monday morning said low inflationary pressures at present could allow the Fed to keep its very easy money policies in place. His remarks also limited selling pressure in the precious metals.

In overnight news, China reported weaker-than-expected economic data during the weekend. Its producer price index fell 2.9% in May, on an annual basis. Imports declined 0.3% in May. China industrial production was up 9.2% year-on-year in May, down slightly from April. Electricity output grew by 4.1% on an annual basis in May, versus a 6.2% rise in April. The China data continues a recent string of weaker-than-anticipated reports coming out of the world's second-largest economy. The data is a mildly bearish underlying factor for the raw commodity sector to start the trading week.

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 Monday.

Regarding economic data expected at Wall Street, the Wholesale Inventories report for April (consensus +0.2%; prior +0.4%) is the only piece of US data slated for release on Tuesday.

At the MCX, gold prices for June delivery closed higher by Rs 431 (1.6%) at Rs 28,011 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 28,034 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 27,586 per 10 grams during the day's trading.

At the MCX, silver prices for July delivery closed higher by Rs 1,172 (2.7%) at Rs 44,162/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 43,140/kg and rose to a high of Rs 44,232/Kg during the day's trading.

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