Gold lingered near three month lows as fears over a Greek exit and instability in Chinese equities failed to generate much safe-haven demand.
Gold for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $7.80 or 0.7 percent to $1,165.40 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,164.70 to $1,170.0.
“The European Central Bank is keeping its emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) for Greek banks in place and is thereby averting a collapse of the country’s banking system,” Commerzbank said. “Contrary to the original announcement by Prime Minister Tsipras, however, banks in Greece will continue to remain closed for the time being.
Government officials will meet later this evening in in Brussels in hopes of reaching a deal on debt terms. The country owes the ECB a 3.6 billion euros on July 20.
However, hope remains for a resolution as Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced that he will be stepping down on Monday – Varoufakis openly challenged creditors and was rumored to be difficult to negotiate with.
“In the next couple of days we’ll see whether there is sufficient trust and the political opportunity to find a solution,” Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch finance minister, said Monday.
Turning to Asia, Chinese companies seeking to suspend trading rose to 200 stocks, bringing the total number to 745 suspensions. The volatility in previous sessions – the start of the month saw double-digit swings – is convincing companies to exit the marketplace until fears are quelled in the world’s second largest economy.
Those suspended stocks total $1.4 trillion of shares or 21 percent of China’s market capitalization, according to reports.
The Shanghai Composite index is down 30 percent from mid-June highs and currently sits at 3727.12, a 12.1 percent slide from the start of the month.
Meanwhile in european equities, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 were down 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent respectively, while the euro was 0.7 percent weaker at $1.0979 against the dollar.
In data today, US ADP non-farm employment change, challenger job cuts, final manufacturing PMI, crude oil inventories and total vehicle sales are due for release later today.
As for other precious metals, Comex silver for September delivery was last down 14.3 cents to $15.610 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $15.580 to $15.710.
Platinum for October delivery fell $9.30 to $1,057.0 per ounce, while the most actively traded palladium contract was at $677.30, up $1.15.
(Editing by Tom Jennemann)
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