Gold futures finally recovered to halt a five-session stretch of losses because of mounting concerns that debt problems of Greece will continue even if a pact on bailout funding is agreed upon next week. This helped keep afloat the investment appeal of the yellow metal.
Prices still experienced their first loss after three weeks and went down more or less 2.4 percent from the settlement last Friday.
Gold for August added 0.1 percent or $1.40 to settle at $1,173.20 per ounce at the COMEX in New York. It was the first gain since June 18 based on the most actively traded contracts. Meanwhile, silver for September decreased 7.3 cents (0.5 percent) at $15.768 per ounce and accounted for a weekly fall of 2.3 percent.
Investment firm analysts day the prices of gold indicates disagreement between bulls who predict Greece will abandon the Euro and bears looking forward to increasing rising interest and improving US economy.
Athens was given a cut-off date this Monday to arrive at an economic reform deal with creditors ahead of primary repayment which is scheduled next week. However, media reports said international lenders can extend the bailout by another five months.
On the other hand, a separate publication said that while Greece and lenders can agree on terms of new funding, there is another issue regarding reduction of the country’s financial obligations.
Gold prices are responding to all headlines about the Greece situation, according to market analysts.
Data from the ICE USD Index disclosed the currency was up roughly 0.3percent. The robust dollar can affect dollar-denominated gold commodities.
For other valuable metals, September copper went up 1.6 cents or 0.6 percent to $2.636 every one pound. This was a weekly gain of about 2.6 percent based on most active contracts.
Platinum for October ended at $1,080.70 per ounce which was down $3 or 0.3 percent. Prices plunged around 0.6 percent for this week. Palladium for September went down 75 cents or 0.1 percent to $678.60 per ounce. It was down 4.1 percent for the week.