Gold Settles Higher Ahead Of Fed Meet

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended higher Monday ahead of some crucial macroeconomic data during the week, with investors focused on the upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve policy meet later this week anticipating the central bank to reaffirm its commitment to keep interest rates at record low until mid-2014. Some soft pending home sales data from the U.S. also had a positive impact on gold prices.

In economic news, pending home sales in the U.S. saw a modest decrease in June, a report from the National Association of Realtors said Monday, with pending sales pulling back off their highest level in over six years.

Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $6.90 or 0.5 percent to close at $1,328.40 an ounce Monday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold for August delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,338.10 and a low of $1,322.60 an ounce.

Last week, gold rose over 2 percent as the dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies after some mixed reading on U.S. economic growth that fueled expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue to maintain its monetary stimulus policy.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, were unchanged at 927.35 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 81.71 on Monday, up from 81.66 late Friday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 81.83 intraday and a low of 81.50.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3259 on Monday, as compared to $1.3281 late Friday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3295 intraday and a low of $1.3240.

In economic news from the U.S., the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index edged down 0.4 percent to 110.9 in June from a downwardly revised 111.3 in May. Economists had been expecting the index to drop by about 1.4 percent. A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

From Europe, U.K. mortgage approvals declined in June despite measures taken by the government and central bank to ease credit conditions, data from the Bank of England showed. The number of loans approved for house purchases fell unexpectedly to 57,667 in June from 58,071 in May. It was forecast to rise to 59,500 in June.