Gold set for longest monthly losing streak since 2013

The greenback was boosted overnight by data that showed US consumer spending increased in July.

“We think that the spate of the more consequential news headlines we are seeing of late are likely to force another dollar rally and conceivably pressure gold prices lower,” said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.

“We would therefore favour the short-side for the time being, especially going into the long Labor Day weekend in the US.”

Meanwhile, investors continued their liquidation of exchange traded funds (ETFs), even after gold prices recovered from one-and-a-half-year lows of $1,159.96 touched earlier in August.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, have seen continuous outflows since July 23 and are down more than 9% so far in 2018.

“The ongoing outflows from ETFs, record high speculative shorts and upbeat US economic data are still the major headwinds for gold and signify the recovery might be short-lived,” said Religare Securities analyst Sugandha Sachdeva.

Spot gold may drop to $1,185/oz as it has broken support at $1,200, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Spot silver was down 0.1% at $14.52/oz.

Palladium was up 0.5% at $970.25/oz, after touching a 10-week high at $983.75. Platinum rose 0.4% to $791.90/oz.

Palladium’s premium over platinum hit about $185/oz on Thursday, the highest since March 2001.

Reuters