Investing.com – Gold prices continued to edge higher on Wednesday as the dollar struggled to pare losses amid consumer sentiment data that missed expectations.
Gold futures for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by $3, or 0.24%, to $1,290.60 troy ounce.
Gold futures remained close to four-week highs as the dollar continued to trend lower after a mixed bag of economic data failed to lift sentiment on the greenback amid light trading volumes.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.1% to 92.79.
Pending home sales were mostly unchanged in November, rising by 0.2% month-on-month, according to the National Association of Realtors. That topped expectations for a 0.4% decline.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge fell to 122.1 in December from a revised reading of 128.6 in November, missing economists' forecast for a reading of 128.
Gold’s bullish start to the week comes as data showed the traders increased their bullish bets on the previous metal last week.
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday reported that hedge funds and money managers had increased their net long stance in gold in the week ended Dec. 19 to 113,800, up 6,700 or 6 .3% from last week's twenty-week low.
Gold notched a second-straight weekly gain last week, closing above its 200-day moving average, a key technical indicator, in a sign of bullish momentum.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures rose 0.97% to $16.77 a troy ounce, while platinum futures gained 0.04% to $927.90.
Copper traded at $3.28, up 0.05%, while natural gas rose 2.90% to $2.73.