SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) – Gold traded little changed on
Thursday, after bouncing from a key support level at $1,530 an
ounce in the previous session, as investors remained focused on
Spain’s struggle with it finances and frail banking sector.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was little changed at $1,561.80 an ounce
by 0035 GMT, on course for a 6 percent monthly fall, stretching
its losing streak to a fourth month and matching a similar run
in late 1999.
* U.S. gold edged down 0.2 percent to $1,561.
* Spanish government bond yields surged to a six-month high
on deepening fears over the country’s banking sector, and
Italian bond yields broke above the 6 percent danger level.
* Investors remained worried about Spain, even after the
European Union offered it more time to reduce its budget deficit
and direct aid to recapitalise distressed banks.
* The benchmark U.S. Treasury note yield fell to a 60-year
low as investors fled to safe-haven assets to ride out Europe’s
deepening financial crisis.
* Latest opinion polls in Greece brought little comfort to
investors, as they showed parties for and against a bailout
neck-to-neck or very close to each another.
* Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes
unexpectedly fell in April to a four-month low, undermining some
of the recent optimism that the housing sector was touching
bottom.
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday as surging bond yields in
Spain and Italy ratcheted up tensions in financial markets about
Europe’s ability to solve its growing debt crisis.
* The dollar fell to its lowest level in 3-1/2 months
against the yen, and the euro fell to its lowest against the
dollar in nearly two years.
DATA/EVENTS
0500 Japan Construction orders yy Apr
0530 India 2011/12 GDP 2011
0530 India GDP Quarterly yy Jan 2012
0600 Germany Retail sales yy real Apr 2012
0755 Germany Unemployment rate sa May 2012
0900 EZ Inflation, flash yy May 2012
1200 Brazil Industrial output yy Apr 2012
1215 US ADP employment report May
1230 US Preliminary GDP Q1
1230 US Jobless claims Weekly
1345 US Chicago PMI May
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0035 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1561.80 -0.10 -0.01 -0.13
Spot Silver 27.82 -0.07 -0.25 0.47
Spot Platinum 1394.44 -1.26 -0.09 0.10
Spot Palladium 602.97 0.34 +0.06 -7.59
COMEX GOLD JUN2 1561.00 -2.40 -0.15 -0.37 75
COMEX SILVER JUL2 27.80 -0.19 -0.67 -0.43 797
Euro/Dollar 1.2365
Dollar/Yen 78.90
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Richard Pullin)
