Gold price falls 0.5% to $1,180/ounce; WTI drops 1.1% to $60.77/bbl

New York (Jun 11)  Gold futures settled lower, putting an end to a winning streak that spanned three sessions after another rise in U.S. retail sales helped lift the dollar and reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will deliver its first interest-rate hike in nearly a decade later this year.

Prices finished above the session’s lows, however, following news that the International Monetary Fund and Greece have halted bailout talks due to a lack of progress.

Gold for August delivery on Comex fell 0.5 percent to settle at $1,180.40 an ounce. Prices had tapped intraday lows under $1,175.

Gold maintained a negative tone after the Commerce Department said retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent in May, while sales excluding autos and gasoline advanced 0.7 percent.

The overall sales figure fell short of the consensus forecast for growth of 1.5 percent produced by a MarketWatch survey of economists, but revisions to the data showed sales in April and March were stronger than initially reported.

In other metals trade, July silver settled at $15.96 an ounce, barely moving for a third session in a row.  Platinum for July delivery fell 0.9 percent to $1,105.20 an ounce, while September palladium lost 0.1 percent to $742.85 an ounce.

July copper fell 2.8 percent to $2.669 a pound, pulling back after edging higher for four straight sessions.

In energy trades, U.S. oil prices slipped from a six-month high today on a stronger dollar and concerns about a continued global glut of oil.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery settled down 1.1 percent to $60.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, fell 0.9 percent to $65.11 a barrel.

Source: ProactiveInvestor