Gold price at 5-week low on firm dollar, Brexit talks lend support

New York (June 19)  Gold fell to a near five-week low on Monday as the dollar rose after hawkish comments from a top Fed official, but uncertainty created by the

start of talks on the terms of Britain's departure from the European Union prevented deeper losses.

Spot gold was down 0.7 percent at $1,244.85 an ounce by 2:35 p.m. EDT (1835 GMT), after falling below the 100-day moving average to $1,244.27, its lowest since May 17. U.S. gold

futures settled down 0.8 percent at $1,246.70.

New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said U.S. inflation is a little low but should rise alongside wages as the labor market improves, allowing the Fed to continue gradually

tightening U.S. monetary policy.

The potential for higher rates reinforced the uptrend in the dollar, which, when it rises, makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies,

potentially weakening demand.

"The dollar is a large part of what's going on with gold," said ING commodities strategist Warren Patterson. "I do see some support from uncertainty about the UK government and the start

of Brexit negotiations."

British Prime Minister Theresa May's failure to win a parliamentary election this month has, alongside Brexit negotiations starting on Monday in Brussels, fueled political

uncertainty. 

Weighing on gold is a drop in holdings of physically backed

exchange traded funds. The biggest, SPDR Gold Trust, saw holdings decrease by 1.5 percent last week,

the biggest weekly outflow in three months. [GOL/ETF]

    "The Fed continued to signal one additional hike in 2017,

but the market is only pricing in a 35 percent probability of a

further 25 bps increase this year," said Standard Chartered in a

note, referring to the U.S. Federal Reserve's statement last

week.

    "The potential hikes, including their speed and magnitude,

have limited gold's upside risk in our view, and expectations

being scaled back bode well for prices later in the year."

    Elsewhere, palladium <XPD=> was down 0.3 percent at $858.49

an ounce. Prices hovered below a 16-year high but analysts say

palladium's gains of more than 25 percent so far this year may

not be justified given slowing auto sales.

    "There are some concerning signals from the two largest

gasoline (palladium) auto markets, the U.S. and China," ICBC

Standard Bank analysts said in a note.

    "The pace of sales growth in both countries has slowed

sharply this year."

    U.S. and Chinese passenger car sales fell in May from a year

earlier. [nL3N1J929O] [nEMNH5Q0SI]

    Silver <XAG=> lost 0.3 percent to $16.54 an ounce and

platinum <XPT=> slid 0.6 percent to $918.55 an ounce.

Source: Nasdaq