Investing.com – Gold prices remained under pressure as the dollar moved off lows after services data topped economists’ forecasts reaffirming investor expectation that bullish economic growth would strengthen the Federal Reserve’s case to raise rates more aggressively.
Gold futures for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by $1.10, or 0.09%, to $1,338.50 a troy ounce.
ISM nonmanufacturing data for January showed an uptick to 59.9, beating expectations of 56.5.
Scotia bank said that upbeat ISM non-manufacturing data was a “strong plus for growth and the components are hawkish to the Federal Open Market Committee.”
In a rising interest rate environment, investor appetite for gold weakens as the opportunity cost of holding the precious metal increases relative to interest-bearing assets such as bonds.
Gold suffered its biggest weekly loss since December last week as data showed traders appear wary of increasing their bullish bets on gold.
Speculative net long position in gold fell by about 7,000 contracts to a net long 207,300 contracts, according to the most recent Commitment of Traders (COT) report. It was the first decline in net long positions in four weeks.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures rose 0.13% to $16.73 a troy ounce, while platinum futures fell 0.31% to $996.30.
Copper rose 1.18% to $3.23, while natural gas fell 3.37% to $2.75.