Gold futures ended higher on Monday, mostly on some safe haven and bargain buying after the precious metal lost almost 4 percent last week. Gold found investor support ahead of the European Union Summit meet later this week, notwithstanding a strengthening dollar that rose significantly against a basket of major currencies.
Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $21.50 or 1.4 percent to close at $1,588.40 an ounce Monday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold traded at an intraday high of $1,589.00 an ounce and a low of $1,566.90 an ounce.
Last week, gold lost close to 4 percent to settle near a three-week low, impacted mostly by the Federal Reserve's failure to bring in the much anticipated monetary stimulus.
Even as global equity markets slumped on eurozone concerns, the dollar continued its strong run against the euro and other major currencies. Investors stayed away from riskier assets with little or no hopes for any lasting solution to the eurozone debt problem, ahead of the European Union summit meet Thursday.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, was trading at 82.540 on Monday, up from 82.267 in North American trade late Friday. The dollar scaled a high of 81.63 intraday and a low of 82.32.
The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.2482 on Monday, as compared to $1.2564 late Friday. The euro scaled a high of $1.2558 intraday and a low of 1.2472.
In economic news, new home sales in the U.S. rose by more than expected in May, the strongest since April of 2010, data from the Commerce Department on showed. Sales of new single-family homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate was 369,000 in May, a 7.6 percent increase from the revised April rate of 343,000. Economists expected new home sales to climb to 350,000.
In the week ahead, investors will focus on the Commerce Department's new homes sales report for May, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for May, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for June and the weekly jobless claims data, the results of the ISM-Chicago's manufacturing survey for June, the Commerce Department's personal income and spending report for May and the durable goods orders report for May.
by RTT Staff Writer
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