Gold Price Struggles to Hold $1,160
NEW YORK (
) --
were slipping slightly Monday despite details on a European Union financial bailout for Greece, which lifted the euro but tempered the gold price.
Gold for June delivery was falling $1.80 to $1,160.10 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price Monday has traded as high as $1,170.70 and as low as $1,159. The
was slipping 0.28% to $80.65 as the euro was gaining slightly against the U.S. currency. The spot gold price per ounce was losing over $2, according to Kitco's gold index.
The European Union Sunday officially pledged 30 billion euros to debt-laden
with 10 billion euros more available from the International Monetary Fund. The eurozone countries agreed upon a three-year financing plan with an interest rate of 5%, which some nations considered lenient. Greece will owe 54 billion euros in 2010 on maturing debt and interest payments, but the country still hasn't asked for financial aid. On Friday, Fitch downgraded its rating on the country to triple-B negative. The details of the bailout were enough to alleviate the recent pressure on the euro and help lift the gold price early in trading, but gold came under some mild profit-taking as it broke $1,160.
Momentum to the upside is still in gold's favor as prices have successfully settled over
for two sessions. Many analysts are looking for prices to settle above that critical resistance area on Monday, which would indicate another leg higher. Once prices successfully can hold $1,160 an ounce, gold will look to conquer it's all-time high of $1,227. In the meantime, the gold price has been making all new highs in the euro, Swiss franc and yen.
"Gold still needs to close above $1,162 to confirm the upside breakout," says James Moore, analyst at
thebulliondesk.com
in his daily metals report. "Gold still has room before entering overbought territory and is well placed to push on towards the $1,200 mark.
Investor demand is still strong for gold after the popular physically backed ETF,
SPDR Gold Shares
(GLD) - Get Report
added 0.61 tons on Friday. This comes after the fund added almost 10 tons earlier in the week. Shares were slipping slightly to $113.57.
The
was adding 1 cent to $18.36while copper prices were flat at $3.59.
Mining stocks, oftentimes a more leveraged way to
, were mixed ahead of the start of second-quarter earnings season.
Barrick Gold
(ABX)
was trading down 0.27% at $41.18 while
Newmont Mining
(NEM) - Get Report
was at $54.21. Other large-cap miners
Kinross Gold
(KGC) - Get Report
and
Goldcorp
(GG)
were trading at $18.55 and $40.19, respectively.
Shares of
Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold
(FCX) - Get Report
were trading down 0.71% to $85.06 after the stock received a downgrade at
Deutsche Bank
to hold from buy and a reduced price target to $95 from $110.
Yamana Gold
(AUY) - Get Report
was at $10.57.
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Written by Alix Steel in New York
.
Alix joined TheStreet.com TV in February 2007. Previously, she held positions in film and theater production, management, and legal administration. Alix has a degree in communications and theater from Northwestern University.