Gold gained in the early Asian session, supported by equities retreat and weaker dollar. Gold prices plunged 1% on Tuesday on news that India will extend its import ban on the precious metal.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery traded at $1 399,35 a troy ounce at 7:14 GMT, up 0,15% on the day, after it crossed the $1 400 barrier earlier in the session.
Huang Fulong, an analyst at CITICS Futures Co. said for Bloomberg: “The decline in the stock markets appears to be lifting gold. The dollar’s performance has kept gold in a tight range. We continue to watch ETF flows with interest.”
Prices were pressured yesterday as news came out India, the worlds biggest gold consumer, will widen curbs on imports. Goal is to narrow a record-wide current account deficit. Indias central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, will expand its import restrictions outside banks to include state-run trading companies and others, who are authorized to directly import gold.
Indias gold imports reached 162 tons last month, up from 142 in April. Restrictions should reduce that amount to 50-100 tons in June.
Investors are looking ahead into ADPs report on U.S. Non-Farm Productivity, as well as ADP Employment Change
and ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite, scheduled to be published today. Forecasts are for positive readings, which should strengthen the greenback.
Elsewhere on the market, silver, platinum and palladium are tracking golds moving direction and have climbed for the day. Silver traded at $22.483 a troy ounce at 7:30 GMT, up 0,33% for the day. Platinum stood at $1 493.80 at 7:30 GMT, up 0.18% and palladium climbed to $755.80 an ounce, marking a 0.63% gain for the day.