Gold retreated from highs

Gold prices updated annual maximum and retreated during volatile trading . In the markets continues to grow the demand for safe assets , which is the gold, in the light of the ongoing conflict in the Crimea. But at the same time react ambiguously markets mixed U.S. statistics .

Following the meeting on Monday, the foreign ministers of the EU member countries in a joint statement condemned the referendum in the Crimea on the accession of Russia and confirmed that the introduced visa restrictions and freeze accounts of those responsible " for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine ."

"The Council of the European Union strongly condemns the unlawful conduct of the referendum in the Crimea on the accession of the Russian Federation , which was a clear violation of Ukrainian Constitution . EU does not recognize the illegal referendum and its outcome ," - said in a statement issued after Monday held a meeting in Brussels of foreign ministers EU .

The document notes that the Council of the EU decided to introduce additional measures , including travel restrictions and the freezing of assets of persons responsible for actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity , sovereignty and independence of Ukraine , including the actions of the future status of any territory that contradict Ukrainian Constitution and related individuals and organizations.

With regard to U.S. statistics , the data that were presented by the National Association of Home Builders showed that in the current month, U.S. builders continued to exercise caution in relation to the housing market , suggesting that problems with restoring not only were associated with severe weather conditions. According to the report , the seasonally adjusted March housing market index rose by only 1 point , reaching 47 points . Values ​​below 50 indicates that more builders assessed conditions as poor than good . Slight increase occurred after the fall of 10 points in February - the largest monthly decline in the history of this research . Many economists predicted that in March the index to rise to 50 points. Builders reported that the complexity of the work have been associated not only with the bad weather and problems and to give labor and land .

On the other hand, the volume of U.S. industrial production increased markedly in February , exceeding forecasts of experts at this , and fully compensate for the decline recorded in the previous month . This was reported by the Federal Reserve in its latest report . According to the data , seasonally adjusted industrial production increased by 0.6 % in February compared with the decline of 0.2% in the previous month ( revised from -0.3 %). Capacity utilization rate , meanwhile, rose by 0.3 percentage points - to 78.8% . Economists forecast that industrial production increased by 0.2%, while capacity utilization was 78.7 %.

The cost of the April gold futures on the COMEX today rose to $ 1392.60 per ounce, and then dropped to $ 1375.00 per ounce.