Stronger dollar and positive Chinese data weigh on gold prices

Monday,   02-Dec-2019   09:13 AM (IST)

Gold prices traded lower on Monday morning in Asia amid a tightened dollar and positive Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data from China. Gold Futures contracts traded at $1,465.65 by 10:02 PM ET (03:03 GMT), down 0.48%. Gold prices reached a one-week peak over the weekend at $1,472.85 due to uncertain prospects of the Sino-U.S. trade deal, after U.S. President Donald Trump showed his support for Hong Kong demonstrators last week. But prices of the precious metal started to dip at the beginning of this week as the dollar strengthened. The US Dollar Index traded marginally higher by 0.05% after the U.S. showed strong economic data last week. Positive China economic data also played a part in weighing down gold prices. Factory activity had an unexpected growth in November for the first time in seven months. China’s Caixin/Market PMI came at 51.8, better than the expected 51.4 and beat the reading of 51.7 last month. Last Friday, the official manufacturing PMI released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also recorded a reading of 50.2, surpassing the 50 level that suggests expansion for the first time since April.