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Gold dips in early Asia in light day, Tsipras to return as Greece PM

Published 09/20/2015, 07:02 PM
Updated 09/20/2015, 07:04 PM
© Reuters.  Gold prices ease in early Asia

© Reuters. Gold prices ease in early Asia

Investing.com - Gold prices ticked lower in Asia on Monday with markets in Japan shut for a holiday and a light regionaldata day with elections in Greece returning premier Alexi Tsipras to power.

Tsipras will visit the President of the Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos Monday and will not use the three-day period, allowed by the constitution, in order to form a government.

This indicates that Tsipras will not seek wider alliances with other parties beyond the Independent Greeks (ANEL) and will stick with a majority of five seats in the 300-seat parliament.

Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange eased 0.19% to $1,136.90 a troy ounce. Prices hit an intraday peak of $1,141.50, the most since September 1.

Also on the Comex, silver futures for December delivery tacked on 0.03% to $15.155 a troy ounce.

Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for December delivery dropped 0.26% to $2.374 a pound.

Copper futures have been under heavy selling pressure in recent weeks as fears of a China-led global economic slowdown spooked traders and rattled sentiment. Prices of the red metal sank to a six-year low of $2.202 on August 24.

The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.

Last week, gold futures rallied to the strongest level in almost three weeks on Friday, as the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates unchanged at current levels boosted the appeal of the precious metal.

The Fed left short-term interest rates unchanged on Thursday, amid concerns over soft inflation and the effects of recent market volatility on the U.S. economy.

The central bank said it wanted to see "some further improvement in the labor market," and be "reasonably confident" that inflation will increase before hiking rates.

A delay in raising interest rates is considered bullish for gold, as it decreases the relative cost of holding on to the metal, which doesn't offer investors any similar guaranteed payout.

Gold fell to a five-and-a-half year low of $1,072.30 on July 24 amid speculation the Fed will raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 at some point this year.

The timing of a Fed rate hike has been a constant source of debate in the markets in recent months. Investors are now focusing on the next Fed meeting on October 27-28.

In the week ahead investors will be focusing on U.S. durable goods data as well as reports on U.S. home sales for further indications on the strength of the economy and the likelihood of a near-term interest rate hike.

On Monday, the U.S. is to release a report on existing home sales.

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