Gold Futures Advance; Dollar Slips
The dollar was weakening against the major world currencies Monday after traders took a negative view of a new economic report.
One euro was buying $1.585 recently, up from $1.5832 on Friday. The U.S. currency was buying 100.71 Japanese yen, down from 100.84 yen previously. The British pound was also rallying against the dollar, with one pound selling for $1.9855 vs. $1.9718 in the prior session.
The Commerce Department reported that retail sales grew more than analysts had expected in March. But after taking into account sales of cars and light trucks, the figures showed a less-than-expected growth level, and traders marked down the value of the greenback on continuing fears of a U.S. recession.
The currency exchange-traded funds were trading in line with the action in the foreign-exchange market. The
CurrencyShares Euro Trust
(FXE) - Get Report
and the
CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust
(FXY) - Get Report
were both ahead by 0.1%.
CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling
(FXB) - Get Report
was up 0.7%.
In the metals markets, gold prices rallied on the back of the soft dollar. Benchmark bullion futures were edging up $4.80 at $931.80 an ounce in recent action on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The
streetTracks Gold Shares
(GLD) - Get Report
and the
iShares Comex Gold Trust
(IAU) - Get Report
, which hold bars of gold in vaults, were both adding 0.1%.
As for the precious metals patch,
Gold Fields
(GFI) - Get Report
was leading the pack higher with a gain of 2.9%. Shares of
Goldcorp
(GG)
and
Yamana Gold
(AUY) - Get Report
were up 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively.