Gold Ends Lower On Strong Dollar

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended lower Monday on a strengthening dollar and global equity markets on the rise, amid lingering concerns the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates ahead of schedule next year, despite the soft non-farm payrolls report from the U.S. last week.

Meanwhile, Chinese inflation remained unchanged near a 5-year low in October while exports grew at a slower pace from last year, reinforcing signs of weak economic activity. China is the biggest consumer of gold.

The upcoming Swiss vote on November 30 to decide on a higher quantum of assets in gold to be held by the central bank also weighed on gold. The referendum will decide if the Swiss National Bank should maintain at least 20 percent of its assets in gold. Currently, the bank maintains an 8 percent of its assets in gold.

Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, shed $10.00 or 0.9 percent to settle at $1,159.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.

Gold for December delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,177.50 and a low of $1,155.70 an ounce.

On Friday, gold futures ended higher, snapping a seven-day loss, with the dollar trending lower against some major currencies on the back of some soft U.S. jobs data and bargain hunting.

Data from the U.S. Labor Department showed the economy to have added 214,000 jobs in October, against expectations for an addition of 235,000 jobs. Unemployment rate, however, dropped down to a new six-year low.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, edged lower to 727.15 tons from its previous close of 732.83 tons on Friday.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 87.75 on Monday, up from its previous close of 87.51 late Friday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 87.78 intraday and a low of 87.22.

The euro trended lower against the dollar at $1.2433 on Monday, as compared to its previous close of $1.2473 late Friday in North American trade. The euro scaled a high of $1.2510 intraday and a low of $1.2420.

In economic news, data out of China showed exports were up 11.6 percent in October from a year earlier, beating expectations. However, that was down from a 15.3 percent growth seen in September. Crude oil imports surged up 18 percent in October, after rising 7.4 percent in the preceding month.

Chinese imports rose 4.6 percent from a year earlier, slightly below forecasts calling for a five per cent gain.

China's Inflation held steady at 1.6 percent in October, which was the lowest rate seen since January 2010, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Monday. The rate was in line with economists' expectations.

In economic news from the eurozone, investor confidence rose for the first time since July, survey figures from the think-tank Sentix showed. The investor sentiment index rose to -11.9 in November from a 17-month low of -13.7 score seen in October.

Although the assessment of the current situation deteriorated further, 6-month expectations improved for the first time this year in November.

The economic calendar is relatively thin this week, with focus primarily on the U.S. Commerce Department's retail sales report for October, the preliminary reading based on the consumer sentiment survey by Reuters and the University of Michigan, the weekly jobless claims report and some Fed speeches.

The Commerce Department's wholesale and business inventories reports for September, the Labor Department's import and export prices data for October are some of the other data due this week.