Gold Slips As Traders Await Fresh Triggers

(RTTNews) - The price of gold was moving lower Monday morning, with the US dollar holding onto to its recent gains ahead of the release of this week's macroeconomic data.

Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, slipped $4.40 to $1,283.00 an ounce. Last week, gold settled marginally higher after Federal Reserve chairwoman-designate Janet Yellen said the U.S. central bank is in no hurry to taper down its quantitative easing program.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, were unchanged at 865.71 tons.

This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering around its 2-week high versus the euro and sterling, while trading near its 2-month high against the yen. The buck was extending losses versus the Swiss franc.

In economic news, euro area current account surplus declined to a seasonally adjusted EUR 13.7 billion in September from EUR 17.9 billion in August, the European Central Bank reported. Data showed that the surplus on goods trade decreased to EUR 13.7 billion from EUR 14.7 billion in August. Likewise, the surplus on services fell to EUR 7.6 billion in September from EUR 8.2 billion.

Meanwhile, euro zone's foreign trade surplus increased markedly in September, the latest data from the statistical office Eurostat showed. The region's trade in goods with the rest of the world resulted in a surplus of EUR 13.1 billion in September, up from EUR 6.9 billion surplus in August. A year earlier, the surplus amounted to 8.6 billion.

Elsewhere, the prices of silver and platinum were ticking lower in morning deals.

From the U.S., the National Association of Home Builders will release its housing market index for November at 10 am ET. The consensus estimates call for the index to have remained unchanged at 55.