Gold and silver prices are mixed leading into the EU open - but down sharply in NY

London (Mar 30)  Gold (-0.38%) and silver (0.08%) trade mixed leading into the EU open. Gold had a pretty heavy session on Monday with the yellow metal falling -1.08% and the $1700/oz psychological area is currently being defended. Copper and WTI have both moved half a percent in the red. 

In the FX markets, the antipodeans are trading well. NZD/USD (0.26%) and AUD/USD (0.20%) are the top-performing currency pairs but the dollar index is still 0.08% higher due to the weak EUR/USD (-0.10%) pair. 

It was another mixed day for equities as the Nikkei 225 (0.16%) and Shanghai Composite (0.49%) closed higher but the ASX (-0.90%) tumbled once again. 

In terms of news, there were some comments from ECB's Vasiliauskas who said QE likely to stay for quite a while even after the virus crisis.

Sticking with central bankers, Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda stated global & Japan, economies showing signs of bottoming out.

On the oil front, Saudi Arabia are said to be looking to keep the OPEC cuts for longer. There may be some revolt from the other OPEC+ nations.

There was some data overnight and Japan Retail sales for February hit +3.1% m/m vs. the analyst expectations of 0.8%. The nations February unemployment rate hit 2.9% ahead of the expected 3.0%.

The German import price index month on month reading for February hit 1.7% (exp 1.3%; prev 1.9%).

In the US it was reported that COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in some states and President Joe Biden asked some states to pause their re-opening procedures.

Also on the coronavirus front Australia recorded 8 more COVID-19 cases overnight. 

In the UK press it was reported that, UK PM Johnson, France’s Macron, Germany’s Merkel Call For Pandemic Treaty (Telegraph).

Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include German CPI (+ regionals), EZ business climate and consumer confidence, EZ industrial/services sentiments, US CB consumer confidence, comments from Fed's Quarles, Bostic, Williams and ECB's McCaul.

New York PM prices at 08:00am EST:  Spot gold has plummeted $19 to $1,699, while spot silver slipped more than 1% to $24.32.

Reuters