Gold flat at $1,663 ahead of September US ISM Manufacturing PMI data
NEW YORK (Oct 3) Precious metals were boosted by a slightly weaker US dollar (DXY) on Monday morning, starting the week on a cautiously optimistic note, with gold, silver, platinum and palladium all up. Investors were also looking forward to the US ISM Manufacturing PMI data for September, in order to have more of an idea of how the economy is faring under the brunt of inflation.
Gold traded mostly flat at $1,663 per troy ounce, with a weekly rise of about 2.4%, profiting from a weaker US dollar (DXY).
Analyst views on metals
According to Piero Cingari, analyst at Capital.com, “Due to a slightly weaker US dollar (DXY), precious metals had successful sessions recently, with gold returning above $1,650 per ounce and silver above $19.
Despite the positive short-term momentum, I still do not see a clear reversal of the bearish trend that precious metals have been experiencing for the past 6 months. Base metals like copper and aluminium have already seen their short-term price momentum fade.
Today, the United States ISM Manufacturing PMI data for September will be an important data point for the metals market. The consensus predicts a drop to 52.2 from 52.8 in August, but still flagging expansionary conditions, in manufacturing activity.
A reading that is in line with or better than the consensus could revive the dollar (DXY) on the back of expectations of a more aggressive Fed, weighing on gold and silver. Positive surprises, on the other hand, can support copper because they indicate that manufacturing activity is still quite resilient.”
Metals price performance
Silver rose 1.9% to $19.3 per troy ounce, with a weekly increase of about 5.2%, as the precious metal tracks gold’s footsteps and reclaims some of the losses it saw in earlier weeks when it dipped to about $18 per troy ounce levels.
Platinum inched up 0.3% to $861 per troy ounce, with a weekly rise of about 1.1%, as Sibanye Stillwater (SBYSF), one of the largest PGM miners in th world has finally come to an agreement with the National Union of Miners (NUM) in South Africa. Palladium also increased 1.8% to $2,196 per troy ounce.
Copper fell 1.0% to $3.4 per pound, as the industrial metal still struggled with speculations of a global recession subduing metals demand, especially in top consumer China. Iron ore fell from CNY 717 per tonne in the previous session to CNY 715 per tonne in the current session. Aluminium increased 0.4% to $2,147 per tonne.
The US dollar (DXY) traded mostly flat at 112.5. The US 10-year Treasury yields also traded flat at 3.8%.
