MW: Gold tilts higher as geopolitical worries rise
By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures edged higher in choppy price action Monday, finding only modest support from continued turmoil in the Middle East and tensions over Ukraine.
Gold for August delivery GCQ4 +0.14% rose $1.80, or 0.2%, to $1,305.10 an ounce. September silver SIU4 +0.33% advanced 6.9 cents, or 0.3%, to $20.705 an ounce.
“In view of the numerous geopolitical risks — fighting has increased again recently in the east of Ukraine, for example, and the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip failed to hold — gold is clearly in greater demand again as a safe haven,” wrote Eugen Weinberg, head of commodity research at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
“However, because physical demand in China and India, the two most important gold markets, is subdued at present, the latest price rises were doubtless attributable above all to short-term-oriented market participants,” he said.
Gold pushed back above $1,300 an ounce Friday but still posted its second consecutive weekly loss.
The Israeli government and Gaza’s Hamas rulers observed a 12-hour truce on Saturday but were unable to agree to extend the cease-fire on Sunday. Meanwhile, a top national security adviser to President Barack Obama said Sunday that Europe was willing to impose tougher sanctions on Russia and would do so by the end of the week. A German government official on Monday said the country was willing to back tougher sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.
