Gold Drifts Lower; Eyes on US Empire Manufacturing Data

Published on Jul 17, 2023 14:00

Gold futures drifted lower in the Asia electronic trades Monday after closing the week with the smart gains of 1.7%. The recent rally has been widely supported by the sharp drop in US dollar, however a break and close above $1990-2000 levels can be critical for the yellow metal. Cooling inflation numbers and pause in the Fed rate hike cycle might take a toll on bullion prices.

International bullion futures most active contract was seen trading down $8.20 at $1956.30 an ounce on COMEX. The commodity jumped near $1970-- its highest level since June 20. Also, the metal is up 8% from year’s low of $1810.8 hit on 28th of February.

MCX August gold futures are trading down Rs 171 at Rs 59145 per 10 grams, after ending last week at Rs 59334 levels. A break above Rs 59900 can be critical for the metal in near term.

MCX silver futures for September delivery is trading lower by Rs 278 at Rs 75690 per kg. The counter should find resistance near 76000-77000 levels in the near term.

Whereas international white metal futures were last seen trading down 0.43 at $ 25.09 per troy ounce. The counter is up by whopping 22% from the year’s low of $19.9 hit in March and is down nearly 8% from years high of $26.4 hit in May.

On the data front today, we have the Empire state manufacturing index due later today. Flurry of data released from China showed that, China’s industrial output grew 4.4% in June, while retail sales rose by 3.1%. Fixed asset investment expanded 3.8% in H1 2023. The China GDP data showed that the economy expanded by 6.3% in Q2, but growth slowed to 0.8% from Q1.