Gold settles above $1,200/oz. during stagnant session

Otmane El Rhazi from The Bullion Desk.

Gold prices settled above $1,200 an ounce in a quiet Friday session as investors stepped to the sideline before the weekend.

Gold for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 10 cent to close at $1,201.90 per ounce. Trade was listless today trading between $1,198.00 and $1,204.00. The yellow-metal finished the week above $1,200 an ounce for the first time since May 22.

Today was fairly boring but that wasn’t the case on Thursday when gold rose more than $25 on perceived dovish speech by Federal Reserve chairwomen Janet Yellen, who suggested that the Fed is in no hurry to raise rates and if it does, it might stop after one or two hikes, INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir noted.

The members of the Fed’s policy board are locked in a debate on when will be the right time to raise rates, which have been near zero since December 2008. Since its decision is now entirely dependent on US data, a rate increase could happen at any future meeting.

Elsewhere, leaders from 19 European countries will meet on Monday during an emergency summit to attempt to break the impasse, with Greece having only 12 days to repay a 1.6 billion euro payment to the IMF

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has reaffirmed that there will be no grace period or delay to payments and Greece must pay up by June 30 or face default. Today the European Central Bank is reportedly holding its own emergency meeting to discuss the extension of emergency liquidity assistance to Greece.

In eurozone data, current account in April was 22.3 billion, above forecasts of 18.1 billion, while German PPI month-over-month in May was unchanged, off estimates of a 0.2 percent increase.

While in US equities, the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P were each down 0.4 percent, while the dollar was 0.1 percent softer at $1.368 against the euro.

As for other precious metals, Comex silver for July delivery was last down seven cents to $16.075 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $15.870 to $16.190.

Platinum futures for July delivery on the Nymex were up $3.40 to $1086.20 per ounce, while the most actively traded palladium contract was at $707.40, down $11.25.

(Editing by Tom Jennemann)

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