Gold: an overview of the market situation

Gold prices fell sharply today , recording -session with the fourth drop in a row, and reaching the lowest level since early April , as the outflow of capital from the physical gold funds have a weak investment appetite. The dynamics also influenced a significant strengthening of the dollar after upbeat U.S. data .

It is learned that sales of existing homes fell 0.2 % in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of up to 4.59 million , said Tuesday the National Association of Realtors. Economists had expected sales to fall more , by 0.7% to an annual rate of 4.57 million sales decreased by 7.5% in March compared with a year earlier .

Meanwhile, the report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond showed in April manufacturing conditions in the region have improved significantly compared with the previous month . Corresponding index of manufacturing activity rose to 7 points in April against March -7 . Economists had expected the index to rise to 0 points.

" Traders seem to be abandoned gold as a safe haven at the moment ," said the head of Saxo Bank Trademark Research Ole Hansen . "Instead, the focus is still the United States, where the economic data continue to point to the fact that interest rates will rise sooner rather than later ."

PRECIOUS little support has concerns about rising tensions in Ukraine. Diplomatic agreements aimed at de-escalation of the crisis in eastern Ukraine , showed signs of disturbances on Monday , as the U.S. and Russia have accused each other of reneging on the agreement reached in Geneva last Thursday. U.S. developed plans for further economic sanctions against Russia if it does not take concrete steps to implement the terms of the Geneva Agreement.

" Outflows of ETFs ETF lately and questions about Chinese demand from end-users in the light of reports that a significant volume of imports used in financial transactions , putting pressure on prices ," - said analyst Edward Meir INTL FCStone . According to the report World Gold Council , and 1000 tons of gold can be used as collateral for loans in China due to the tightening of credit conditions .

The data showed that the reserves fund SPDR Gold Trust declined on Monday to 3 tons - up to 792.14 thousand tons. Just last week, the outflow from the fund amounted to 9.3 tonnes , offsetting growth in the whole of the current year.

June futures on COMEX gold fell to $ 1281.80 .