Signs of global slowdown give gold wings again

Bengaluru — Gold prices rose on Tuesday buoyed by safe-haven sentiment emanating from weak global manufacturing data that hinted at an economic slowdown, a day after the metal declined more than 1% on expectations of a US-China trade truce.

Fundamentals

• Spot gold was up 0.4% at $1,389.49/oz at 0111 GMT.

• Prices fell about 1.8% on Monday, gold’s biggest one-day percentage decline since November 2016. They touched a more than one-week low of $1,381.51/oz.

• US gold futures were up 0.2% at $1,391.70/oz.

• Factory activity shrank across much of Europe and Asia in June, while growth in manufacturing cooled in the US, keeping the world’s policymakers under pressure to avert a recession.

• US manufacturing activity slowed to near a three-year low in June, with a measure of new orders received by factories tumbling, amid growing anxiety over an escalation in trade tensions between the US and China.

• Britain’s economy has lost momentum and might have shrunk in the second quarter of 2019, according to data that showed the double impact of Brexit and the slowdown in the global economy.

• Eurozone inflation remains unacceptably low and the European Central Bank (ECB) will ease policy further if necessary to boost price pressures, policymakers said on Monday, just weeks after ECB chief Mario Draghi hinted at more stimulus.

• US President Donald Trump said on Monday that trade talks with China are under way and any deal would need to be somewhat tilted in favour of the US.

• Hong Kong police fired tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of defiant protesters, some of whom had stormed and ransacked the city’s legislature hours earlier on the anniversary of the city’s 1997 return to Chinese rule.

• SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF), said its holdings rose 0.78% to 800.2 tons on Monday from 794.04 tons on Friday.

• Barrick Gold said on Monday its Nevada joint venture with Newmont Goldcorp is expected to produce between 1.8-million and 1.9-million ounces of gold in the second half of 2019.

Reuters