Gold Lower As Safe Haven Appetite Subsides

Gold prices are again modestly lower in early U.S. trading Tuesday. No new, bullish fundamental developments have allowed the sellers to gain the upper hand in the safe-haven gold market so far this week. Some technical backing and filling on the daily charts is also featured in gold and silver markets this week. April Comex gold was last down $5.30 at $1,271.70 an ounce. March Comex silver last traded up $0.084 at $17.33 an ounce.

European stock markets rallied Tuesday on reports the new Greek government will come to terms with the European Union on dealing with Greece’s large amount of government debt, and new financing. The reports also said the new Greek prime minister is taking a more conciliatory tone regarding his anti-austerity rhetoric seen just after the election in late January. An EU official said Tuesday there may be some “wiggle room” regarding the EU accommodating Greece’s new proposals. The gold market also saw slight selling pressure on this news. But many market watchers are skeptical of this development, saying “the devil is in the details.”

Australia’s central bank on Tuesday is the latest to cut its interest rates (to a record low) in an effort to devalue the Australian dollar and in turn try to invigorate the Australian economy. The Aussie dollar fell to a five-year low versus the U.S. dollar on the news. Over a dozen smaller-country central banks have recently lowered their interest rates, as the “currency wars” scenario continues to build. Only the U.S. and the U.K. central banks have interest rate hikes on their radar scopes. And with another OECD world inflation report out Tuesday showing a five-year low rate of around 1% world inflation annually, the U.S. and U.K. may have their rate-raising plans dashed, or at least delayed. Economists and analysts continue to debate the benefits and/or detriments of a stronger U.S. dollar against the other world currencies.

via Kitco

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza