Gold Hovers Above $1,620/oz, Central Bank Meetings Eyed

Reuters
By Rujun Shen
July 30, 2012

SINGAPORE, July 30 (Reuters) – Gold held steady above $1,620
an ounce on Monday, as investors wait for the central banks on
both sides of the Atlantic to give clearer cues on further
monetary stimulus.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,623.59 an ounce
by 0021 GMT, after posting a 2.5-percent weekly gain, its
biggest one-week rise in nearly two months. It hit $1,629.10 in
the previous session, its highest since early June.

* U.S. gold futures contract for August delivery
inched up 0.2 percent to $1,621.

* U.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter as
consumers spent at their slowest pace in a year, increasing
pressure on the Federal Reserve to do more to bolster the
recovery.

* After European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi vowed to do
everything to hold the euro zone together, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande pledged to
do all in their power to protect the euro.

* This week, investors will wait for the U.S. Federal
Reserve’s policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, for cues on
whether the central bank will launch another round of
quantitative easing, known as QE3.

* The ECB policy meeting on Thursday will also attract wide
attention after Draghi’s comments last week.

* Hedge funds and money managers trimmed their net long
positions in U.S. gold futures and options by about 25 percent
in the week ended July 24, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission showed.

* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s biggest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.3 percent to 1,248.606
tonnes by July 27, the lowest since early November.

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