Gold
decreased for a second day as the outlook for an improving U.S. economy
outweighed tension in Ukraine. Palladium retreated from the highest level in
more than 13 years.
Gold
for immediate delivery lost as much as 0.6 percent to
$1,297.46 an ounce and traded at $1,301.78 in Singapore. The metal on Aug. 15
dropped to $1,292.63, the lowest level since Aug. 6. Spot palladium climbed to
$895.55 an ounce, the highest price since February 2001, before declining.
Bullion
rallied 8.3 percent this year, even as the Federal
Reserve reduced stimulus, in part on tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Fed, which has kept its benchmark lending rate near zero percent since December 2008, will this week release minutes
of its meeting in July, when it cut asset purchases for a sixth time. A report
last week showed U.S. industrial output advanced, adding to signs that the
recovery is gaining traction.
“Gold
prices fell as improving U.S. data dented investor demand despite rising
tensions in the Ukraine,” Mark Pervan, the head of
commodity research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in
Melbourne, said in a note on 18 Aug. “Support from geopolitical tensions
remains sporadic.”
Data
this week may show a rebound in U.S. housing starts, while sales of previously
owned homes probably held near an eight-month high in July. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak Aug. 22 at a central bankers’
conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Top
diplomats from Ukraine and Russia met for more than five hours of talks in
Berlin to ease tensions after officials in Kiev said their troops had destroyed
part of an armored column from Russia. In Iraq,
Kurdish forces took control of most of the country’s largest dam as the U.S.
widened its air strikes against Islamic militants over the weekend.
Gold
for December delivery fell 0.3 percent to $1,302.40
an ounce on the Comex in New York after losing 0.7 percent on Aug. 15. The net-bullish position in gold
increased 28 percent in the week ended Aug. 12 to
133,708 contracts, the biggest gain since late June, U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.
Palladium
for immediate delivery traded 0.1 percent lower at
$893.70 an ounce. The metal has advanced 25 percent
this year on concern that potential sanctions against Russia, the biggest
producer, may disrupt supplies after a five-month mine strike cut output in South
Africa, the second-largest producer.
Spot
silver added 0.2 percent to $19.5975 an ounce after
earlier dropping to $19.4833, the lowest since June 17. Platinum was at
$1,455.38 an ounce from $1,456 on Aug. 6, when prices fell for a sixth day in
the longest losing run since March 2013.