Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures slipped below $1,500 an ounce Monday as other commodities lost ground and took away some of the metal�s appeal as an inflation hedge. Gold for August delivery declined $4.50, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,496.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was gold�s lowest settlement and the first finish beneath $1,500 an ounce since May 19. �Gold as a commodity is going down,� said Frank Lesh, a broker and futures analyst with FuturePath Trading in Chicago. �The flight-to-safety trade is still alive and well, just being overtaken right now by the commodity-related selling.� In any case, prices are unlikely �to retreat much further� as uncertainty regarding Greece�s sovereign-debt crisis persists, analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients.

Traders this week are awaiting debate and vote on a further round of austerity measures in Greece, with ratification a condition for the nation receiving additional financial support, they added. �It is still uncertain whether parliament will give its approval,� the analysts said. Also helping gold, money managers increased their net long positions, or bets that prices will go higher, to 206,300 contracts in the week ended June 21, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. �This is the highest level for nine weeks and was also the sharpest rise in positions in (four and a half) months,� the Commerzbank analysts said. See full story.