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Gold futures hold gains after U.S. ISM report

Published 07/01/2013, 10:05 AM
Updated 07/01/2013, 10:05 AM

Investing.com - Gold futures were higher for the second consecutive day on Monday, holding on to gains after a report showed that manufacturing activity expanded at a faster rate than expected in June.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery traded at USD1,239.55 a troy ounce during U.S. morning hours, up 1.3% on the day.

Comex gold prices rose by as much as 1.9% earlier in the session to hit a daily high of USD1,247.25 a troy ounce.

Gold prices fell to USD1,180.35 a troy ounce on Friday, the weakest level since August 3, 2010.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,180.35 a troy ounce, Friday’s low and a 34-month low and resistance at USD1,276.05, the high from June 26.

The Institute for Supply Management said earlier that its index of purchasing managers rose to 50.9 in June from a reading of 49.0 in May.

Analysts had expected the ISM index of purchasing managers to rise 50.5 last month.

Gold traders now looked ahead to Friday’s highly-anticipated U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for indications of how the recovery in the U.S. labor market is progressing.

Any improvement in the U.S. economy was likely to reinforce the view that the Federal Reserve will begin to taper its bond purchase program in the coming months.

Sentiment on the precious metals has been downbeat in recent months amid growing expectations the Fed will begin to taper off its bond-buying program by the end of this year.

Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its bond-buying program sooner-than-expected.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery rose 0.7% to trade at USD19.60 a troy ounce. On Friday, silver futures fell to a low of USD18.18 a troy ounce, the cheapest level since August 24, 2010.

Meanwhile, copper for September delivery surged 3% to trade at USD3.148 a pound.

Copper’s strong performance came despite mounting concerns over a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing activity.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index came in at 50.1 in June, above expectations for 50.0, following a reading of 50.8 in May.

Separately, China’s HSBC manufacturing PMI fell to a nine-month low of 48.2 in June, down from a preliminary reading of 48.3 and further below the 50 level that separates contraction form expansion.

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

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