Gold was little changed in the Asian trading hours ahead of a spate of manufacturing data from all major economies today.
The spot gold price was last at $1,186.1/1,186.9 per ounce, up $0.3 on the previous close. Trade has ranged from $1,184.4 to $1,185.8 so far.
“Gold may be stuck in choppy-trading near term,” James Steel, HSBC analyst, said.
In data already released, China’s HSBC flash manufacturing PMI rose to 49.6 in June from a final reading of 49.2 in May. The data was expected to come in at 49.4.
While the reading showed some signs of improvement in China’s factory activity, the reading is still below 50, which separates expansion from contraction, market participants noted.
Attention today will be once again focused on Greece. After months of negotiations, yesterday’s talks broke up again without a deal being secured to free up the funds needed for Greece to avoid defaulting on its debts. 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.
Still, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras put forward a new list of reforms over the weekend to appease creditors that have been well received. 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 Council President Donald Tusk called the Greek proposals “a positive step forward”. The aim is to have Eurogroup finance ministers approve a cash-for-reform package on Wednesday evening, and put it to euro zone leaders for final endorsement on Thursday morning, he said.
But even if Greece makes its repayment to the IMF this month, it still owes the fund around 320 billion euros and owes billions to the ECB and the EU. It also has government bonds and T-bills to cover.
As for the other precious metals, silver was little changed at $16.11/16.16. Platinum at $1,066/1,071 was up $9 and palladium at $698/704 climbed $4.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) gold for December delivery was unchanged at 240 yuan per gram as Chinese markets reopened after Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
(Additional reporting by Tom Jennemann)
The post Gold stable ahead of PMI data, Greece in focus appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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