Gold and silver move up ahead of the European cash open

London (Aug 18)  After a bit of a choppy session yesterday gold is trading 0.36% higher leading into the European open on Wednesday. Silver has also moved into the black and trades 0.40% up at $23.73/oz. Looking at the rest of the commodities complex, copper (0.13%) and spot WTI (0.42%) are both trading higher too.

In terms of risk sentiment, the Nikkei 225 (0.59%) and Shanghai Composite (0.76%) had a much-needed pullback but the ASX still fell around -0.12%. Futures in Europe are pointing toward a positive open.

In FX markets, it was a pretty lackluster session overnight but the dollar index slipped 0.07% after some recent strength and the biggest mover was AUD/USD which rose 0.14%. BTC/USD has risen 1.58% overnight to trade at $45,339.

Looking at some of the news stories from overnight, RBNZ kept its official cash rate at 0.25% vs market expectations of a move to 0.50%.

UK July CPI +2.0% vs +2.2% y/y expected.

Australia Q2 wage price index +0.4% q/q vs +0.6% expected.

China reports 6 new local coronavirus cases vs 17 a day earlier.

KitcoNews