Investing.com - Gold futures traded lower in the early part of Monday’s Asian session despite data that indicate traders have increased their bullish wagers on the yellow metal.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery fell 0.83% to USD1,384.20 per troy ounce in Asian trading Monday. Last Friday, the October contract settled down 1.19% at USD1,395.80 per ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,368.40 a troy ounce, the low from August 23 and resistance at USD1,433.50, the high from August 28. Gold prices lost 0.2% on the week, the first weekly decline in a month.
Data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission show hedge funds and other market speculators boosted their long bets on gold by 34% to to 97,902 futures and options contracts in the week ending August 27, good for the biggest increase since January.
Net-bullish holdings across 18 U.S.- traded commodities climbed 18% to 824,251, the highest since February, according to Bloomberg. Of the 25 best-performing U.S.-listed, non-leveraged ETFs during the month of August, nearly 20 were related to commodities with the bulk of those funds offering exposure to gold or silver.
Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its quantitative easing program sooner-than-expected. The possibility that the Fed could scale back its stimulus program helped buoy the U.S. dollar.
In U.S. economic news out last Friday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan revised consumer sentiment index for August released Friday rose to 82.0 from a preliminary reading 80.0, beating expectations for an uptick to 80.5.
Also in the U.S., a widely-watched Chicago purchasing managers' index rose to 53.0 this month from 52.3 in July, in line with expectations.
Elsewhere, Comex silver for December delivery fell 0.30% to USD23.443 per ounce while copper for December delivery climbed 0.77% to USD3.264 an ounce.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery fell 0.83% to USD1,384.20 per troy ounce in Asian trading Monday. Last Friday, the October contract settled down 1.19% at USD1,395.80 per ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,368.40 a troy ounce, the low from August 23 and resistance at USD1,433.50, the high from August 28. Gold prices lost 0.2% on the week, the first weekly decline in a month.
Data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission show hedge funds and other market speculators boosted their long bets on gold by 34% to to 97,902 futures and options contracts in the week ending August 27, good for the biggest increase since January.
Net-bullish holdings across 18 U.S.- traded commodities climbed 18% to 824,251, the highest since February, according to Bloomberg. Of the 25 best-performing U.S.-listed, non-leveraged ETFs during the month of August, nearly 20 were related to commodities with the bulk of those funds offering exposure to gold or silver.
Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its quantitative easing program sooner-than-expected. The possibility that the Fed could scale back its stimulus program helped buoy the U.S. dollar.
In U.S. economic news out last Friday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan revised consumer sentiment index for August released Friday rose to 82.0 from a preliminary reading 80.0, beating expectations for an uptick to 80.5.
Also in the U.S., a widely-watched Chicago purchasing managers' index rose to 53.0 this month from 52.3 in July, in line with expectations.
Elsewhere, Comex silver for December delivery fell 0.30% to USD23.443 per ounce while copper for December delivery climbed 0.77% to USD3.264 an ounce.