Gold prices held steady on Monday as the dollar fell against the yen, with markets shifting their focus towards U.S. politics ahead of a presidential debate.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold had edged up 0.1 percent to $1,338.82 an ounce by 0052 GMT.
* U.S. gold futures gained 0.1 percent to $1,343.10 an ounce.
* The U.S. presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton will take place at 0100 GMT on Tuesday, with investors looking for indications of who could win the race to lead the world’s biggest economy.
* The dollar was down 0.3 percent at 100.75 yen.
* Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren said on Friday that he believed interest rates should be raised gradually now and warned that a fall in the unemployment rate below its sustainable level could derail economic recovery in the United States.
* The split at the Federal Reserve over when to next raise interest rates appears to hinge largely on disagreements over the labour market outlook, comments from policymakers on Friday suggest.
* Appetite is low for a big European Central Bank policy shift so any change is likely to be just an adjustment of the current asset buying scheme and not a big overhaul, conversations with six sources on or close to the Governing Council indicate.
* Hedge funds and money managers cut their net long position in COMEX gold for the second straight week in the week to September 20, ahead of the U.S. Fed policy meeting, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed.
* Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.03 percent to 951.22 tonnes on Friday.
* Asian physical gold demand remained subdued last week ahead of a national holiday in China and amid what is considered an inauspicious period before the festival season begins in October in India.
Source: Reuters
