Gold Ends Lower As Dollar Continues To Strengthen

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended slightly lower on Wednesday, as the dollar continued to trend higher against a band of select currencies, amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in either July or September.

Meanwhile, the dollar has rallied on fears that the eurozone crisis involving Greece is worse than feared.

However, reports say there have been hints that Greece is almost close to a deal with its international creditors. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras in a statement said he was "close to an agreement." He also added that the agreement would be beneficial to Greece with no erosion to pensions, salaries, banks or deposits in the proposed deal.

In the meantime, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew called on Greece and its creditors to intensify efforts to find a solution to the financial crisis, while underlining the risks to the global economy from probable Greek default and exit from the eurozone.

Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $1.30 or 0.1 percent to settle at $1,185.60 an ounce, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.

Gold for June delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,190.40 and a low of $1,183.00 an ounce.

On Tuesday, gold futures ended lower at $1,186.90 an ounce, down $17.10 or 1.4 percent, after the dollar continued to strengthen following a slew of mostly upbeat economic data from the U.S.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, inched higher to 715.86 tons on Wednesday, from its previous close of 715.26 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 97.40 on Wednesday, up from its previous close of 97.22 on Tuesday in late North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 97.78 intraday and a low of 96.89.

The euro trended higher against the dollar at $1.0890 on Wednesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.0873 in North American trade late Tuesday. The euro scaled a high of $1.0930 intraday and a low of $1.0820.

On the economic front, a measure of future economic activity in Germany, the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index rose 0.5 percent to 108.5 in March. In February, the index had risen 0.7 percent. It was the fifth consecutive month of rise in March, with widespread strength among components, signaling the growth momentum could improve in coming months, a survey from the Conference Board showed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank maintained the level of Emergency Liquidity Assistance provided for Greek banks, a report said citing sources on Wednesday. Greece has not requested to raise the ceiling as it has an unused liquidity buffer of EUR 3 billion under the ELA program. The Greece central bank has provided around EUR 80.2 billion to lenders.