By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Gold futures declined in electronic trading Monday, part of a broader sell-off across commodity markets, while the U.S. dollar turned higher.
Gold for April delivery GC2J -0.26% slipped $4.00, or 0.2%, to $1,736.40 an ounce on Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
Optimism about the U.S. economy helped buoy Asian equity markets on Monday, as a surprise jump in jobs reported late Friday, coupled with signs of improving U.S. manufacturing activity, dulled gold’s safe-haven appeal late. Read more on Friday's gold session.
A stronger dollar added further pressure to gold in Asian trading. The dollar index DXY +0.52% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, traded at 79.205, from 78.969 in late North American trading on Friday.
A higher greenback can discourage investment in dollar-priced commodities such as gold as it makes them more expensive to holders of other currencies.
Across the wider metals complex, silver for March delivery SI2H -0.46% eased 13 cents, or 0.4%, to $33.62 an ounce.
Copper’s March contract HG2H -0.65% lost 2 cents, or 0.5%, to $3.88 per pound.
Platinum for April delivery PL2J -0.75% dropped $10.20, or 0.6%, to $1,621.70 an ounce, while March palladium futures PA2H -0.90% shed $5.85, or 0.8%, to $703.00 an ounce.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
