Gold News & Info

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures ended slightly lower Monday, as profit-taking took over following steep gains in the previous week and as the dollar strengthened against most of its major rivals. Gold futures had veered between small gains and losses earlier as investors weighed the relatively high gold price with the need to own the precious metal in their portfolios in a week thick with U.S. macroeconomic data and comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials. Gold for April delivery declined $1.50, or 0.1%, to end the day at $1,774.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold notched mild losses Friday, but ended last week up 2.9%.

But gold remains well supported and is likely to soar past $1,800 an ounce this week as investors tune in to economic data and Fed officials, said Rohit Savant, an analyst with CPM Group in New York. The focus will be on economic reports such as consumer confidence on Tuesday, gross domestic product on Wednesday, and manufacturing on Thursday. Silver for March delivery, meanwhile, turned higher, ending the day up 19 cents, or 0.5%, at $35.52 an ounce. See full story.