Commodities: Safe-haven gold dives as US dollar stabilises
Safe-haven gold dived as the US dollar stabilised on Monday, a marked swivel of the spotlight away from crude oil futures.
At about 15:23 BST, on Comex, gold fell 1.26% to $1226.6 an ounce. Silver flopped 2.27% to $16.25 an ounce. Copper shed 0.24% to 270.45 cents a pound.
"Gold bulls tasted defeat on Monday as prices tumbled," said FXTM's Lukman Otunuga, citing a stabilising US dollar.
This had plenty to do with profit-taking, he said, noting increasingly hawkish comments from central banks outside of the US diminishing the greenback’s attraction and markets questioning President Donald Trump's ability to move forward with his pro-growth policies.
"The downside pressure was complimented by prospects of tighter global monetary policy which simply uncaged the dormant sellers," he added.
"Although the ongoing uncertainty from Brexit and political risk in the US has the ability to support Gold in the longer term, short-term bears remain in control.
"From a technical standpoint, the breakdown below $1240 should encourage a further decline towards $1220."
On London Metals Exchange, three-month industrial metals were mixed. Copper fell 0.5% and tin lost 0.25%, but aluminum added 0.21% and zinc firmed 0.09%.
Turning to crude-oil futures, Nymex-priced West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1.06% to $46.53 a barrel, with Intercontinental Exchange-traded Brent up 0.94% to $49.23 a barrel.
"WTI crude and Brent crude gained on news that US shale producers reduced the number of active rigs after twenty-four weeks of record expansion," said London Capital Group's Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
"On the flip side, top sellers are waiting to sell this rally, encouraged by news that production in Libya exceeded 1m barrels per day, as a result of the rebound in oil prices after the US shale producers paused their record drilling expansion," he said.
"Higher oil prices are naturally attractive for more production; the global oil supply is hard to drain. Resistance is eyed at $46.65 and $48.05."