Gold Futures Waver After Topping $2,000 With Dollar Paring Loss
Gold Rebounds Toward $2,000 After Dollar Drops to Two-Year Low
(Bloomberg) -- Gold’s rally fizzled after Comex futures climbed back above $2,000 an ounce, with the dollar erasing losses and a U.S. report adding to signs of a recovery in global manufacturing.
The dollar recovered on data showing U.S. manufacturing expanded in August at the fastest pace since late 2018, reducing demand for bullion as an alternative asset. Earlier, gold surged as the greenback dropped to the lowest in more than two years and investors bet the Federal Reserve’s more relaxed stance on inflation announced last week would signal interest rates will stay lower for longer.
The manufacturing report “confirms that the U.S. economic recovery is real and hence we experienced a bounce in the dollar index,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade. “Speculators have been selling the dollar like there was a death sentence issued for the dollar index by the Fed. The mighty dollar has come back.”
Bullion has soared about 30% this year, and reached an all-time high in early August amid massive stimulus aimed at reviving economies hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The metal’s rally then took a breather, with prices posting a loss in August as real rates advanced and investors booked profits, switching to riskier assets amid hopes for a coronavirus vaccine.
Gold futures for December delivery settled little-changed at $1,978.90 an ounce at 1:30 p.m. on the Comex in New York. The metal earlier climbed 1.1% to $2,001.20, the highest for a most-active contract since Aug. 19, and fell as much as 0.4%. Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,969.53 an ounce after jumping as much as 1.3%.
December silver futures advanced 0.2% to $28.645 an ounce.
“The pandemic is far from over and if the economic outlook worsens, central banks could increase their monetary interventions yet again,” precious metals refiner Heraeus Holding GmbH said in a report, forecasting gold to trade in a range of $1,850 to $2,200 over the rest of the year. “Investors will continue to see gold as a safe haven, pushing prices higher.”
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.