U.S. economic data

Precious metals have paused after two solid days of gains last week after the after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced further loosening of monetary policy to reinvigorate the sluggish U.S economy launching  QE3 after much anticipation.

The reoccurring theme of lackluster U.S data emerged once again.  Spot gold rallied to new 2 week highs of $1668 on the heels of this poor data.

Spot gold slid almost 1% as month end futures contracts rolled over and a weaker Euro all added to the slide, which saw gold touch a new weekly low of $1647.

Spot gold retreated on concerns the lingering strike in India will cut into the buying. The yellow metal dealt to an intra-day low of $1654.

“Enthusiasm for precious metals waned as the boost from (Federal Reserve Chairman) Bernanke’s dovish comments the previous day began to fade. Evaporating physical demand also pushed gold lower, dragging down the rest of the complex” Standard Bank said in their daily note.

Spot gold fell as the U.S dollar rallied on fears the Chinese economy was in for a hard landing. Gold touched it lowest since last week at $1641.

A mixed day on the markets, spot gold traded lower carrying over from the European session. The metal touched a low of $1652 in early trade.

A rallying U.S dollar vs. all major currencies, in particular, the Euro dollar was the theme of last week.  The greenback has given back some of those gains in early week trading as the Euro has rallied to 1.3242, the highest in a week. Spot gold followed the single currency higher taking itself to $1670.