Gold Ends Higher On China Demand

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended higher for a fourth straight day Monday, mostly on technical buying even as investor sentiment improved on hopes physical demand for the precious metal will support bullion prices after data revealed higher gold consumption in China. Gold prices moved up, despite the dollar strengthening against a basket of some major currencies.

In some encouraging news, China consumed 706.36 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2013, up 54 percent from the year-ago period, the China Gold Association said.

Meanwhile, Japan's gross domestic product for the second quarter fell short of expectations, fueling hopes of continued monetary stimulus support for the near future. Japan's economy grew 0.6 percent in the second quarter, while economists anticipated a 0.9 percent growth, according to preliminary data. Gross domestic product increased 2.6 percent on year for April-June quarter, Economists expected an increase of 3.6 percent.

Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, jumped $22.00 or 1.7 percent to close at $1,334.20 an ounce Monday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold for December delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,343.70 and a low of $1,313.50 an ounce.

Last week, gold dipped below $1,300-mark, but recovered to settle marginally higher on some upbeat trade data from China amid uncertainties surrounding the U.S. Federal Reserve plans to scale down its monetary stimulus support in the near future.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved up to 911.13 tons from 909.33 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 81.34 on Friday, up from 81.13 late Friday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 81.51 intraday and a low of 81.10.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3305 on Monday, as compared to $1.3321 late Friday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3344 intraday and a low of $1.3278.

In economic news from the eurozone, employment in the German manufacturing sector increased slightly from last year in June, preliminary data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed. The number of persons employed in goods producing units, with fifty or more staff, grew 0.5 percent on an annual basis to around 5.2 million in June.

Switzerland's retail sales turnover increased for the third consecutive month in June, provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office showed. Real turnover grew 2.3 percent from a year ago, following 1.5 percent rise in the month of May. Similarly, excluding fuel sales, overall turnover climbed at a faster pace of 2 percent after increasing 1.6 percent in May.