Gold steadies

NEW YORK: Gold steadied on Monday, coming off lows as the dollar pared gains, though concerns over the outlook for the US election and Federal Reserve policy kept the metal pinned near the previous session’s highest level in nearly four weeks.

The dollar was up around 0.1 percent versus a basket of major currencies while global equity prices steadied after the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it was taking a new look at Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

Spot gold was up 0.03 percent at $1,276.34 an ounce by 3:10 p.m. EDT (1910 GMT), hovering below Friday’s peak of $1,284.14 and on track to close October down 3.1 percent. US gold futures for December delivery settled down 0.3 percent at $1,273.10.

Physical demand has been very quiet, Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS in Switzerland, said. “Everything is stuck, with the (Nov. 8) elections in the United States, and the non-farm payrolls on Friday. We have had a $25 range every day.”

The metal hit its highest since Oct. 4 on Friday after the FBI’s announcement shook up markets that had priced in a Clinton victory over Republican Donald Trump, prompting losses in stocks and the dollar.

“People had been presuming the election was a done deal for Clinton,” said Natixis analyst Bernard Dahdah.

The market was quiet ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, and October US payrolls data on Friday.

While hardly anyone expects Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed policymakers to raise interest rates only a week before the election, they appear to have left themselves the December meeting to deliver a rate rise in 2016.

“I don’t think anyone’s expecting a Fed hike this week. That (Fed meeting) will give more clarity for a December rate hike odds,” said one gold trader in Toronto.

Silver was up 0.6 percent at $17.83 an ounce but poised to post a monthly decline of around 7 percent

Platinum was down 0.6 percent at $973 and set to record its third consecutive monthly drop while palladium, down 0.5 percent at $616.50, was heading for its biggest monthly drop since November, down more than 14 percent.

Wheat jumps nearly 2pc

CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures climbed nearly 2 percent on Monday as traders covered short positions following US regulatory data last week showing an unexpectedly large build in bearish wheat bets.

Soyabean and corn futures were also higher, with soyabeans rebounding from Friday’s steep losses on support from US Department of Agriculture data showing big shipments and new sales of soyabeans to China.

CBOT wheat posted the largest gains. Wheat for December delivery was up 7-3/4 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $4.16-1/4 per bushel, extending gains after testing Friday’s settlement price of about $4.08 as of 11:48 a.m. CDT (1748 GMT). The Commodity Futures Trading Commission after the close of trading on Friday said speculative traders added a net total of 25,081 short wheat futures positions in addition to expanding their net soyabean long by 17,795 contracts and trimming their net short in corn by 5,948 contracts.

Wheat rallied despite outlooks for crop-friendly rains in extended forecasts for the southern US Plains wheat belt and as analysts polled by Reuters expected the USDA later on Monday to keep good-to-excellent winter wheat condition ratings steady with last week.

CBOT January soyabeans were up 3-1/2 cents to $10.15-1/2 and CBOT December corn was up 2 cents to $3.57.

USDA said 264,000 tonnes of US soyabeans were sold to China and that another 2.87 million tonnes of US soyabeans were inspected last week for export. Robust export demand for US soyabeans and corn has offset pressure from record-large US soya and corn harvests. Analysts expected USDA in a report due at 3 p.m. CDT to show the soya harvest at 87 percent complete and corn 77 percent done.

Soyabeans hit a two-month high last week before easing and some investors already were looking ahead to a USDA monthly supply and demand report due on Nov. 9.—Reuters