Investing.com – Gold prices rose from lows on Monday on dollar weakness but remained under pressure amid easing trade war fears and signs of waning demand for the yellow metal.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $1.20, or 0.10%, to $1,291.30 a troy ounce.
Gold prices recovered from lows of $1,281.20 as the dollar’s leap to a fresh five-month high was met with resistance, curbing downside momentum in the precious metal.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose to a fresh five-month high of 93.94 before paring most of its gains.
A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of foreign currency, reducing demand for the yellow metal.
After posting its worst weekly loss for the year on Friday, gold had started the week on the back foot as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s comments of a pause on the U.S.-China trade war, weighed on safe-haven demand.
“We’re putting the trade war on hold,” Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday.
Demand for gold appeared to be waning as data on Friday showed that traders were less optimistic on upside in the yellow metal, trimming their holdings of gold last week.
CFTC COT data showed money managers reduced their net long positions in gold futures to 92,400 lots from 107,400 lots for the week ended May 16.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures rose 0.27% to $16.50 a troy ounce, while platinum futures gained 0.96% to $895.00 an ounce.
Copper rose 1% to $3.094.