Yahoo Finance Gold Prices Fall as Bullish Bets Drop To 17-Week Low Ahead of Fed Meeting
Investing.com – Gold prices remained under pressure on Monday despite weakness in the dollar as data showed money managers slashed their bullish bets on the precious metal to a 17-week low ahead of a widely expected Federal Reserve interest rate hike.
Gold futures for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $1.10, or 0.08%, to $1,247.30 a troy ounce.
Fresh from a three-week losing streak, gold prices struggled to pare recent losses as investors awaited the final Federal Reserve meeting of the year which is slated to get underway on Tuesday, with a policy decision due Wednesday.
As well as the policy decision on interest rates, investors are expected to parse the Federal Reserve’s update to the summary of economic projections for clues on future monetary policy.
According to investing.com’s fed rate monitor tool, 100% of traders expect the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates on Wednesday. In anticipation of further monetary policy tightening, traders have slashed their bullish bets on gold to a 17-week low.
Large speculative net long position fell 51,100 to 173,300, a 17-week low, the CFTC said on Friday.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.15% to $15.81 a troy ounce, while platinum futures gained 0.98% to $892.35.
Copper traded at $3.01, up 1.06%, while natural gas rose by 2.06% to $2.83 following reports that a major North Sea oil and gas pipeline is to be shut for weeks to repair a leak.
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