TEMPO.CO, Jakarta -The prices of gold futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) went up by more than one percent on Tuesday morning, April 12, 2016, as commodities brokers become increasingly risk-averse, in light of the continued depreciation of the United States (US) Dollar.
June contracts went up by US$14.2 or 1.14 percent to trade at US$1.258 per ounce - the appreciation driven by the lack of trade volume and the absence of recent releases of important economic performance figures in recent days - which commodities brokers and investors alike are anxiously waiting for to determine their next course of action. As such, volatility of gold prices remains limited.
Investors are waiting for retail performance figures and the producers' price index, which is due to be released on Wednesday, consumer prices index and the monthly unemployment figures, which is due to be released on Thursday, and the overall industrial output, which is expected to come out on Friday.
Gold's volatility went on a limited uptrend because the greenback index - which measures the trading position of the US Dollar against several major international currencies - slipped by 0.19 percent to stand at 94.00.
US Dollar is depreciating because market players had initially expected the Federal Open Market Committee to raise its Fund rate from 0.50 percent to 0.75 percent sometime in July, but estimates have been revised and a raise seems increasingly more likely to occur sometime in June.
That, according to CMEGroup, the probability of the Fed Fund rate hike hovers around 18 percent. Comparatively speaking, the probability of a rate hike in July 2016 remains unchanged at 20 percent.
According to Xinhua reports, silver contracts for the month of May 2016 went up by 59.2 cents or 3.85 percent - closing at US$15.976 per ounce - while July contracts for platinum similarly went up by US$22.4 or 2.31 percent to conclude trading at US$4.990.80 per ounce on Tuesday morning, Jakarta time.
ANTARA
