Gold News & Info

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold slipped 0.3% to close just under $1,201 as a stronger dollar outweighed soft U.S. housing data and persistent concerns about Greece to reduce demand for alternative stores of value.

The dollar rose against the euro and most major competitors after initial optimism for Friday's agreement between Greece and its EU creditors gave way to skepticism that a real resolution has been achieved. A rising dollar pressures gold and other commodities denominated in it for international trade by making them more expensive to holders of other currencies.

Friday, Greece received a four-month extension on the bailout plan that has kept it afloat since 2011, contingent on reforms that must be submitted by Greece and approved by the EU's troika of lenders, the IMF, European Commission, and ECB. The list of proposed reforms, due today from the Greek government, has been delayed until Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley said Greece's odds of remaining within the Eurozone have not improved as a result of the apparent agreement, suggesting that no credible resolution has yet been determined and Greece's problems have merely been postponed by the extension.

U.S. home sales dropped to a nine-month low in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. Rising prices and lagging wage-gains are pushing affordability beyond the reach of more prospective buyers, preventing a more robust recovery in the crucial housing sector.

The other precious metals were mixed. Silver dipped 0.1% and platinum dropped 0.5% while outlier palladium gained 0.9%.

At the Comex close: April gold slipped $4.10 to $1,200.80; March silver dipped 2 cents $16.25; April platinum dropped $6.60 to $1,162.90; and March palladium gained $6.75 to $785.95 an ounce.