Investing.com - Gold futures traded lower Tuesday, as the U.S. dollar gained strength, prior to the key euro zone meeting regarding the Greek bailout on Wednesday.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery traded at USD1720.45 a troy ounce during mid U.S. trade falling 0.26%.
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Futures were likely to find support at USD1,706.85 a troy ounce, Friday’s low and resistance at USD1,735.25 a troy ounce, Monday’s high.
Euro zone finance ministers are meeting on Wednesday to discuss Greek’s bailout plan after the island nation agreed on an austerity plan on Sunday.
Moody’s downgraded Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta yesterday, increasing euro zone debt fears.
The rating agency also warned of pending downgrades of the United Kingdom and France citing the euro zone’s crisis.
However, Italy sold EUR6 billion of bonds at an auction, meeting its target, pushing the borrowing rate to the lowest level since March, despite the Moody downgrade.
German investor confidence hit a 10 month high in February beating estimates. The ZEW Center’s index of investor and analyst expectations climbed to 5.4 from negative 21.6 in January. Analysts’ had forecast a gain to just negative 11.8.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, moved higher by 0.51% to trade at 79.48.
Gold prices often move inversely to the U.S. dollar, as gold becomes less expensive for buyers using other currencies.
In other news, the CME group, operator of the Comex lowered margin requirements for gold, silver and copper traders by 12%, 14% and 13% respectively.
These new rates went into effect after the close of trading yesterday. They will enable traders to effectively take on more risk while trading the metals.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery gave back 0.60% to trade at USD33.52 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery dropped 0.45% to trade at USD3.82 a pound.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery traded at USD1720.45 a troy ounce during mid U.S. trade falling 0.26%.
.
Futures were likely to find support at USD1,706.85 a troy ounce, Friday’s low and resistance at USD1,735.25 a troy ounce, Monday’s high.
Euro zone finance ministers are meeting on Wednesday to discuss Greek’s bailout plan after the island nation agreed on an austerity plan on Sunday.
Moody’s downgraded Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta yesterday, increasing euro zone debt fears.
The rating agency also warned of pending downgrades of the United Kingdom and France citing the euro zone’s crisis.
However, Italy sold EUR6 billion of bonds at an auction, meeting its target, pushing the borrowing rate to the lowest level since March, despite the Moody downgrade.
German investor confidence hit a 10 month high in February beating estimates. The ZEW Center’s index of investor and analyst expectations climbed to 5.4 from negative 21.6 in January. Analysts’ had forecast a gain to just negative 11.8.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, moved higher by 0.51% to trade at 79.48.
Gold prices often move inversely to the U.S. dollar, as gold becomes less expensive for buyers using other currencies.
In other news, the CME group, operator of the Comex lowered margin requirements for gold, silver and copper traders by 12%, 14% and 13% respectively.
These new rates went into effect after the close of trading yesterday. They will enable traders to effectively take on more risk while trading the metals.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery gave back 0.60% to trade at USD33.52 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery dropped 0.45% to trade at USD3.82 a pound.