Investing.com — Gold prices weakened in Asian trading on Monday, receiving limited support from increased expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts as traders waited for more signals from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy this week.
The yellow metal remained well within the trading range established through most of June, and also made little progress as the dollar fell.
fell slightly to $2,325.74 per ounce, while the August term fell 0.2% to $2,336.05 per ounce at 00:09 ET (04:09 GMT).
Gold marks little gains as interest rate cuts intensify in September
Sentiment toward metals markets, especially gold, remained tense even as traders raised expectations for a September rate cut following data last week.
The stock fell more than 0.2% on Monday, extending losses from the previous session.
Stock traders estimate an almost 58% chance of a cut of 25 basis points in September.
While the prospect of lower interest rates bodes well for metals markets, prices made little progress as traders awaited a slew of signals from the Fed and the economy this week.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak on Tuesday, with the talks taking place on Wednesday.
Additionally, June data is expected on Friday.
Other precious metals trended lower on Monday. fell 0.5% to $1,004.60 per ounce, while it fell 0.5% to $29.405 per ounce.
Copper retreats on mixed China PMIs
Among industrial metals, copper prices fell on Monday, extending recent losses, as sentiment towards the red metal was hit by a mixed set of economic data from top importer China.
The benchmark on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.6% to $9,545.50 per tonne, while the index fell 0.5% in one month to $4.3550 per pound.
Sentiment towards China deteriorated further this week after government data released on Sunday showed China’s manufacturing sector contracted for the second month in a row.
But figures released on Monday showed the sector growing at its fastest pace in three years.
The mixed data kept traders unsure about how an economic recovery in the world’s largest copper importer would play out.
Due to concerns about China, there were significant losses in copper until June.
