Investing.com – Gold futures started the new week on the wrong foot, tumbling during Monday’s Asian session as traders increased their bearish bets on the yellow metal.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Comex gold for June delivery slid 1.33% to USD1,346.95 per troy ounce in Asian Monday. Monday’s weakness for gold comes after bullion slipped 1.86% last Friday in U.S. trading.
Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,347.50 a troy ounce, the low from April 18, and resistance at USD1,444.15, Tuesday's high.
Some decent U.S. data points weighed on gold late last week while sparking U.S. equities to fresh all-time highs.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to 83.7 in May from 76.4 in April, surging past expectations for a rise to 78.0. The University of Michigan also said its inflation expectations for this month remained unchanged at 3.1%.
Perhaps more concerning regarding gold’s weakness is that it has persisted even after the Federal Reserve attempted to put to bed speculation that it is close winding down or ending its USD85 billion per month bond-buying program known as the third version of quantitative easing.
Adding to the concern for gold bugs is data that indicate hedge funds and other speculators have increased their short bets on bullion. Market participants held 74,432 short contracts on gold as of May 14, according to the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission. That is the highest level in nearly seven years. By comparison, long exposure to gold fell 20%.
That news comes after it was revealed last week that George Soros, the billionaire financier, slashed his exposure to the SPDR Gold Shares, the world’s largest gold ETF backed by physical holdings of the yellow metal.
Elsewhere, Comex silver for July delivery plunged 4.31% to USD21.388 per ounce while copper for July deliver fell 0.31% to USD3.305 per ounce.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Comex gold for June delivery slid 1.33% to USD1,346.95 per troy ounce in Asian Monday. Monday’s weakness for gold comes after bullion slipped 1.86% last Friday in U.S. trading.
Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,347.50 a troy ounce, the low from April 18, and resistance at USD1,444.15, Tuesday's high.
Some decent U.S. data points weighed on gold late last week while sparking U.S. equities to fresh all-time highs.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to 83.7 in May from 76.4 in April, surging past expectations for a rise to 78.0. The University of Michigan also said its inflation expectations for this month remained unchanged at 3.1%.
Perhaps more concerning regarding gold’s weakness is that it has persisted even after the Federal Reserve attempted to put to bed speculation that it is close winding down or ending its USD85 billion per month bond-buying program known as the third version of quantitative easing.
Adding to the concern for gold bugs is data that indicate hedge funds and other speculators have increased their short bets on bullion. Market participants held 74,432 short contracts on gold as of May 14, according to the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission. That is the highest level in nearly seven years. By comparison, long exposure to gold fell 20%.
That news comes after it was revealed last week that George Soros, the billionaire financier, slashed his exposure to the SPDR Gold Shares, the world’s largest gold ETF backed by physical holdings of the yellow metal.
Elsewhere, Comex silver for July delivery plunged 4.31% to USD21.388 per ounce while copper for July deliver fell 0.31% to USD3.305 per ounce.