The gold price was around one percent lower late on Monday afternoon – investors flocked to equities on optimism that Greece is close to agreeing a bailout deal with its creditors.
Spot gold was last at $1,184.50/1,185.30 per ounce, down $15.30 on Friday’s close – it had hit its highest since May 26 in the pre-weekend session at $1,206.10 on news of the Fed’s dovish stance on interest-rate rises in the US. Silver, though, was up 13 cents at $16.17/16.22.
Platinum struck a fresh six-year low at $1,058 and was last down around 1.85 percent at $1,061/1,066 per ounce, a drop of $20. Palladium also dropped below the key $700 level for the first time since February – it was last at session lows of $694/700, down $8.
While today’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers broke up once again without a deal being secured to free up the funds needed for Greece to avoid defaulting on its debts, there is talk that a breakthrough has been made.
Athens must pay 1.6 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by June 30; failure to make that payment before the deadline could send Greece towards an exit from the bloc – the so-called Grexit.
Still, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras put forward a new list of reforms last night to appease creditors that have been well received – Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem called them “a step in the right direction” ahead of an emergency summit of EU leaders this evening and another Eurogroup meeting on Thursday at which a deal might be struck.
Reportedly, Tsipras proposals may include major concessions on pensions – one of the key areas where Athens had been reluctant to implement reform given the Syriza Party’s anti-austerity platform.
European indices are performing well, with the Euro Stoxx last up nearly four percent, the DAX 3.67 percent and the CAC 40 3.75 percent. US markets are all currently in positive territory, with the S&P up just short of 0.8 percent.
Speculative longs may have exited the gold market in light of the dampening of the metal’s safe-haven appeal.
The euro is also up at 1.1405 against the dollar.
There were no numbers of note released today and Chinese markets are closed until tomorrow for the annual Dragon Boat Festival holiday. A spate of manufacturing data from all major economies is due on Tuesday.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)
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