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Gold hits 12-week high on Syria war jitters, Fed taper uncertainty

Published 08/27/2013, 03:26 AM
Updated 08/27/2013, 03:26 AM

Investing.com - Gold futures edged higher on Tuesday, briefly climbing above the key USD1,400-level amid ongoing uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its stimulus program next month.

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

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at USD1,402.00 a troy ounce during European morning hours, up 0.65%. The December contract settled down 0.2% at USD1,393.10 a troy ounce on Monday.

Futures held in a range between USD1,395.40 a troy ounce, the session low and a session high of USD1,406.90 a troy ounce, the strongest level since June 7.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,351.90 a troy ounce, the low from August 20 and near-term resistance at USD1,417.45, the high from June 7.

Data on Monday showed that U.S. durable goods orders dropped 7.3% in July, worse than expectations for a 4% decline. It was the largest decline since August 2012.

Core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, fell 0.6% last month, defying expectations for a 0.5% increase.

The data came after a report on Friday showed that U.S. new home sales fell by a larger-than-forecast 13.4% in July, the largest decline in more than three years.

The weak data added to uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve will start to taper its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program next month.

Gold traders have closely been looking out for U.S. data reports recently to gauge if they will strengthen or weaken the case for the Fed to reduce its bond purchases.

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

The central bank is scheduled to meet September 17-18 to review the economy and assess policy.

Meanwhile, some safe haven buying emerged amid growing speculation the U.S. and other Western nations will intervene in Syria in wake of allegations that Bashar al-Assad’s government forces used chemical weaponry against civilians.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. will hold Syria’s government accountable for using chemical weapons.

The precious metal has rebounded nearly 16% since hitting a 34-month low of USD1,180.15 a troy ounce on June 28.

Despite recent gains, the precious metal is still on track to post a loss of approximately 17% on the year amid concerns the Fed will start to unwind its stimulus program by the year's end.

An exit from the stimulus would deal a heavy blow to gold, which has thrived on demand from investors who buy gold to hedge against the inflationary risks of loose monetary policies.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery rose 0.75% to trade at USD24.23 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery added 0.4% to trade at USD3.341 a pound.

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