Although gold prices somewhat declined in Asian trade on Monday, they were still close to record highs last week as the expectation of lower U.S. interest rates pummelling the dollar gave the metal markets a better outlook. Yellow metal reached all-time highs last week, leading to gains in the metal markets as traders cheered the Federal Reserve’s dovish remarks.
Gold futures expiring in December saw a 0.1% decline to $2,545.10 an ounce, while spot gold declined by 0.1% to $2,509.88. Last week, spot prices reached a record-breaking $2,532.05 per ounce. Gains in the yellow metal coincided with the dollar falling to a 13-month low and mounting evidence that the Fed will start reducing interest rates in September.
While they had modest advances last week, other precious metals declined on Monday. Silver prices dropped 0.4% to $30.145 an ounce, while platinum futures lost 0.6% to $965.45 an ounce. Amidst enduring worries about the decreasing demand in China, the largest importer, copper prices among industrial metals decreased somewhat on Monday as a recovery from recent lows slowed.
One-month copper futures declined by 0.1% to $4.2557 a pound after rising sharply during the previous week on expectations that lower interest rates would support higher copper demand worldwide.
