Investing.com -- Gold futures slipped on Monday paring some of its gains from late last week, as a steadily appreciating dollar continued to strengthen.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery plunged in U.S. morning trading below $1,200 an ounce, before wavering hours later. Gold prices peaked at a daily-high of $1,209.30 early in the morning session, before settling at $1,198.90 (down $5.80 or 0.48%) just before the close.
Last Thursday, gold dropped to $1,192.40, its lowest level since April 1, before rebounding on Friday to close the week at $1,204.60, rising $11.00 on the session. For the week, the precious metal gained $3.70 an ounce to post its fourth straight weekly gain.
On Monday, however, gold fell back again as the dollar approached a 12-year high against the euro. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, inched up 0.10% to $99.73. Earlier in the session, the index edged upward to 99.99 to reach a four-week high.
Dollar-denominated commodities such as gold become more expensive for foreign purchasers in periods of a stronger dollar.
The dollar also moved higher against the Yen, Canadian dollar and Mexican peso and gained more than 1% on a pair of lighter traded currencies in the South African Rand and the Turkish Lira.
Following a rash of disappointing data last week, investors unloaded the precious metal ahead of the release of a host of key economic indicators over the next several days. Analysts expect a slight uptick of 1.1% in Tuesday's U.S. Retail Sales Report, as well as a modest increase in the Producer Price Index, which will also be released on Tuesday.
Economists, though, have forecasted a 0.3% decline in industrial production from last month and will closely monitor housing starts for March, after the figure dropped sharply by 17% a month earlier. Policymakers also await the release of the Consumer Price Index for the month of March on Friday for a gauge on inflation.
Last month, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen indicated that she would like to see inflation move toward its target goal of 2% before the Fed decides on the timing of an interest-rate hike. The index rebounded 0.2% in February, after declining sharply by 0.7% a month earlier.
Continued bearish economic data could fuel expectations for a delay in raising rates. Gold, which is not attached to interest rates or dividends, struggles to compete with high yield bearing assets.
Elsewhere, silver for May delivery dropped 0.094 or 0.57% to 16.288.
Copper for May delivery fell 0.016 or 0.57% to $2.718, amid disappointing import/export data in China. Last month, exports in China declined by 15% on a year-over-year basis, one month after rising by nearly 50%.
Chinese imports for March also fell by 12.7%, after declining by 20.5% in February. China is the world's second-largest purchaser of gold. The Asian nation also is the world's largest consumer of copper. In 2014, China accounted for more than 40% of the world's total supply.