Gold retreated early Monday as traders booked recent gains ahead of this week's top-tier economic agenda and earnings amid signs the world's largest economy is improving.
Caution sounds to be the major sentiment with the start of the week, as the yellow metal headed to the southside after posting its sixth straight weekly gain last week.
A rebound in Asian equities before US data this weeks that may show gains in retail sales and industrial production weighed on the precious metal trade, and likely dampened demand for gold as an alternative investment.
Adding to negativity, Goldman Sachs Group Inc's Jeffery Currie restated a bearish view for bullion, expecting an end to a rebound in 2014, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
As of 03:51 a.m. ET, Spot Gold was down 1.07% at $1,321.53 an ounce. The metal snapped a three-day winning streak before the opening in Europe, where prices fell as low as 1.75% to $1,313.79.
Among other preciosu metals:
- Spot Silver fell 1.02% to $21.21 an ounce after capping a sixth weekly advance last week, the longest such run since April 2011.
- Spot Platinum fell 0.76% to $1,500.75 an ounce after capping a fourth week of gains last week in the longest stretch since March.
- Spot Palladium fell 0.36% to $871.50 an ounce after four weeks of gains. The metal rose to $877.29 on July 10, the highest since 13 years.
Today, the economic calendar is empty but not the earnings calendar with Citigroup shceduled from the banking sector.
Coming up this week, traders will be eyeing Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as she delivers her semi-annual monetary policy testimony to Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
Yellen might be giving clues about the US economy and the timing of expected US central bank interest rate hikes.
The dollar fell sharply against a six-currency basket for the first time in three days. The USDIX was down at 80.10 comapred with the day's open at 80.37.