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Gold trims losses on hopes for Greek breakthrough, Bernanke eyed

Published 02/07/2012, 09:21 AM
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Investing.com - Gold futures pared losses in choppy trade on Tuesday, bouncing off an eight-day low amid hopes of a breakthrough on a second bailout for Greece, while markets awaited a testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the state of the U.S. economy.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery traded at USD1,724.35 a troy ounce during early U.S. morning trade, easing down 0.05%.      

It earlier fell by as much as 0.55% to trade at USD1,712.65 a troy ounce, the lowest since January 26.

Futures were likely to find support at USD1,703.35 a troy ounce, the low from January 26 and resistance at USD1,740.45, Monday’s high.

Gold prices turned higher after reports surfaced that Greece's government was preparing the text of an agreement on a EUR130 billion bailout that must be put to political leaders for approval

“The Greek government is working on the final document that will be discussed at the political leaders' meeting later in the day," a government official said.

European Union officials have said a final agreement on Greece’s EUR130 billion bailout much be approved by February 15, in order to avert a default when a EUR14.5 billion bond repayment comes due on March 20.

The euro pushed higher against the U.S. dollar on the news, while the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.23% to trade at 79.00.

Gold prices often move inversely to the U.S. dollar, as gold becomes less expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Meanwhile, gold traders awaited a testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke before the Senate Budget Committee in Washington later in the day. Bernanke was due to testify on the economic outlook and federal budget situation.  

Traders will pay close attention to the Chairman’s testimony to see if he alters his comments following Friday’s strong payrolls data, which dampened expectations for a new round of quantitative easing by the Fed.

In testimony to the House Budget Committee in Washington last Thursday, Bernanke said the economy has shown “signs of improvement” but warned that the outlook remained “uncertain”.

Gold prices edged higher during the Asian trading session as a broadly weaker U.S. dollar and some mild bargain buying supported prices.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery dropped 0.83% to trade at USD33.47 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery tumbled 0.95% to trade at USD3.828 a pound.

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