Precious Metals Prices Consolidate After Gains

New York (Feb 4)  Precious metals opened on a firm note yesterday, but closed mixed, the silver price was up 0.5 percent at  $17.27  , platinum was up around 0.2 percent, palladium was unchanged, while gold fell one percent – surprisingly it did so despite a pullback in the dollar.

This morning the precious metals are up an average of 0.3 percent with platinum up 0.7 percent at a price of  $1,238  and gold up 0.3 percent at  $1,263.60  after yesterday's dip to a low of  $1,255.40  .

Equities – were upbeat yesterday with the  Euro Stoxx 50  up 1.3 percent and the Dow closed up 1.8 percent – relief that the new Greek leaders seemed to have toned down their demands helped fuel the rallies.  Asia  is mixed with the  Nikkei  up two percent, the Hang Seng and Kospi are up 0.6 percent, while the CSI is bucking the trend with a 0.5 percent drop.

Currencies – the dollar index is easing, last at 93.68 and conversely the euro seems to have found some lift to 1.1473, again on the Greek government's change in stance. Sterling is looking firmer too, last at 1.5151 as are the aussie at 0.7814, the yuan at 6.2467 and the rouble at 64.74, while the yen is last at 117.65. The rouble seems to be getting some lift on the back of the firmer oil price.

Today's economic agenda includes services PMI data out across  Europe  and the US, plus EU retail sales, US ADP non-farm employment change and crude oil inventories. See table below.

Precious metals remain in consolidation mode; gold's attempts to rebound have run into resistance ahead of a long term resistance line above  $1,300  but with ETF buying returning in recent weeks, the funds looking considerably more bullish, the uncertainty over  Greece  , stronger oil and some weakness in the dollar, it maybe that gold is just pausing after its first up-leg.

Source: EMBIN