Gold prices suffered their biggest
April gold futures tumbled $7.90, or 0.64%, to $1,228.00 per ounce at 18:23 GMT on Monday. Gold prices pared losses, which were the biggest in February and the largest since January 23, incurred earlier in the day. This comes as the yellow metal recorded another weekly gain of 1.2% last week and reached a 13-week high.
Silver is also lower to kick off the trading week. March silver futures decreased $0.07, or 0.41%, to $17.86 an ounce. Silver also posted another weekly gain of 2.8% last week.
The precious metals are climbing to start off 2017.
Both metals were impacted by a rising dollar and another record day in the equities market. The US dollar edged upwards because of reports that traders are raising their expectations that the US central bank will pull the trigger on rate hikes next month. However, according to the CME Group FedWatch tool, there is only a 17% chance that Fed Chair Janet Yellen will raise rates for just the third time in a decade in March.
Since commodities like gold and silver are priced in the greenback, the fluctuations can influence the price of precious metals. A surging US dollar can make precious metals more expensive for foreign investors to purchase.
Yellen is scheduled to speak before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, US equities also climbed to new highs as the S&P 500 reached a market cap of $20 trillion.
Ostensibly, the political and economic uncertainty in the US and Europe will provide support for gold in the
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