Gold prices stabilized on Monday in modest trading due to holidays, with investors awaiting statements from a number of Federal Reserve officials (the US central bank) in a week full of data.
Gold settled in spot trading at $2,023.03 per ounce, fluctuating in the range of five dollars by 0523 GMT.
US gold futures also settled at $2,037.10 per ounce.
Kyle Rodda, a financial markets analyst at Capital.com, said: “The situation is stable, and if the data declines in a way that leads to a decline in the dollar and increases bets on lowering US interest rates, gold will shine again.” The big impact this week comes from the CPI which, if strong, will constitute another test of the $2,000 per ounce level.
Trading is expected to be weak during Asian trading hours due to holidays in the markets of China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Market participants will focus on US CPI data to be released on Tuesday, retail sales data to be released on Thursday, and Producer Price Index data to be released on Friday, while they also await statements from seven Federal Reserve officials this week.
Several Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, said last week they wanted to see more indications that inflation will continue to decline before cutting interest rates.
As for other precious metals, platinum settled in spot trading at $871.87 per ounce. Palladium rose 0.7 percent to $865.13, and silver rose 0.5 percent to $22.71.
