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Gold Trades Near Three-Month Low on Speculation Dollar to Gain
May 24
Gold traded near a three-month closing low on speculation government reports this week will signal U.S. economic growth is accelerating, reducing the precious metal's appeal as an alternative investment to the dollar.
Reports tomorrow and May 26 are expected to show durable goods orders rose last month and the U.S. economy accelerated in the three months to March 31, according to the median forecasts in separate Bloomberg News surveys. Gold has fallen 8.6 percent from a 16-year high of $456.89 on Dec. 2 as the dollar gained.
``Unless the dollar trend is clearly reversed, we see little prospect that the gold market is going to be suddenly lifted,'' Nell Sloane, a commodities broker with NSFutures.com in Chicago, said in a report.
Gold for immediate delivery rose 5 cents to $417.60 an ounce at 9:37 a.m. Sydney time, compared with $417.55 late yesterday in New York. Yesterday, gold fell 10 cents to its lowest close since Feb. 9.
The dollar traded at $1.2572 against the euro at 9:26 a.m. Sydney time, from $1.2578 late yesterday in New York according to EBS, an electronic currency dealing system. The dollar fell 0.2 percent yesterday.
Durable goods orders probably rose 1.3 percent last month, after falling 2.8 percent in March, based on the median estimate of 51 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Commerce Department will release the report tomorrow.
The U.S. economy probably expanded at a 3.6 percent annual rate from January through March, faster than the 3.1 percent pace reported last month, according to a different poll before of the department's May 26 release.
Gold for June delivery rose 60 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $417.50 an ounce in after-hours trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:21 a.m. Sydney time.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Matt Chambers in Melbourne at mchambers1@bloomberg.net
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