Investing.com - Gold futures are trading lower to start the week in Asia as markets and traders remain pensive about what the next move out of Cyprus could be.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery fell 0.12% to USD1,606.05 per troy ounce in Asian trading Monday after settling at USD1,608 per ounce last week. Gold futures rose 1% last week.
Gold prices were likely to find support at USD1,575.80 a troy ounce, the low from March 14 and near-term resistance at USD1,619.40, the high from February 26.
European Union leaders are currently meeting in Brussels in a bid to craft a proposal to help Cyprus and keep the tiny island nation of just 1.1 million people in the euro zone. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has approached those leaders with a new plan that would tax deposits at the country's banks of over EUR100,000, but not deposits below that amount.
Cyprus needs to raise EUR5.8 billion in order to tap EUR10 billion in bailout assistance. If a deal is not put together by later today, the European Central Bank will withdraw funding, a move that could hasten Cyprus' bankruptcy and euro zone departure.
Elsewhere, while U.S. hedge funds and other market participants are raising their bullish bets on gold, natural gas and agriculture commodities, they are far less bullish on copper. Traders boosted their net short positions on the red metal by 53% to 25,719 contracts for the week ending March 19, according to data from the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
On concerns about economic activity in China and the Cyprus situation, copper prices will likely fall for a second straight month for the first time since 2011.
Copper for May delivery is off 0.04% at USD3.471 per ounce while Comex silver for May delivery is down 0.24% at USD28.630 per ounce.
Investing.com - Investing.com offers an extensive set of professional tools for the Forex, Commodities, Futures and the Stock Market including real-time data streaming, a comprehensive economic calendar, as well as financial news and technical & fundamental analysis by in-house experts.
Read more News on Investing.com or Follow us on Twitter at @ Newsinvesting
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
