(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) Gold futures settled lower today with upbeat U.S. data on new-home sales and consumer confidence helping to further strengthen the dollar and push prices for the metal to their lowest settlement in just over two weeks.
Gold for June delivery dropped 1.4 percent to settle at $1186.90 an ounce on Comex. The most-active contract hasn’t settled at a level this low since May 11.
Sales of new homes in the U.S. climbed 6.8 percent in April to an annual rate of 517000 while consumer confidence in May rose to 95.4 from 94.3 in April.
Orders for durable U.S. goods fell but the core capital-goods number which can be viewed as a proxy for business investment climbed 1 percent in April.
The day’s mostly upbeat economic data provided support for the dollar which helped to dull investment demand for gold.
Commodities priced in dollars often trade inversely with the dollar as moves in the U.S. unit can influence the attractiveness of those commodities to holders of other currencies.
In other metals trading July silver lost 1.8 percent to end at $16.746 an ounce.
July platinum fell $2.1 percent to $1124.10 an ounce while June palladium slipped 0.5 percent to $780.40 an ounce.
July copper lost 1.2 percent to $2.778 a pound.
In energy trading oil futures settled at their lowest level in a week today with prices down nearly 3 percent on the back of strength in the U.S. dollar. July crude fell 2.8 percent to settle at $58.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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