The Tuesday Morning Market Minute
Gold futures edged higher Tuesday, taking back a portion of the previous session's decline, as the yellow metal found some haven-related buying interest on tensions in the Middle East and nagging worries over Greece .
Gold for June delivery on Comex (GCM5) rose $4.90 , or 0.4%, to $1,198.60 an ounce, while May silver (SIK5) rose 8.1 cents , or 0.5%, to $15.97 an ounce.
News reports said U.S. warships are being sent to the Yemeni coast (http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-sending-aircraft-carrier-to-help-monitor-iranian-ships-1429561112) to monitor ships traveling from Iran that are suspected of carrying arms (http://news.yahoo.com/us-warship-heads-yemeni-waters-block-iranian-weapons-182036698--politics.html) for Houthi rebels. Concerns also remain over Greece after Bloomberg reported (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ecb-looking-at-reining-in-support-for-greek-banks-reports-2015-04-21) that the European Central Bank is studying measures that would rein in emergency funding for Greek banks, a move that could push the country closer to default and a potential exit from the euro.
Those factors appeared to spur some haven-related buying, wrote Peter Hug , global trading director at Kitco Metals, while the upcoming Indian festival of Akshaya Tritiya is expected to fuel some "much needed" physical demand.
But if news out of the Middle East doesn't continue to grab headlines, the direction of the dollar will likely dictate gold's short-term direction, Hug said.
A stronger dollar tends to weigh on commodities priced in the greenback because it makes them more expensive to users of other currencies.
In other metals trade, July platinum (PLN5) rose $6.30 , or 0.5%, to $1,155.10 an ounce, while June palladium (PAM5) gained $2.15 , or 0.3%, to $774.55 an ounce.
May copper (HGK5) fell 3.33 cents ,or 1.2%, to $2.6995 a pound.
- William Watts ; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
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