Gold: an overview of the market situation

Gold prices rose today, due to the expectations of the accompanying statement by the Federal Open Market Committee Federal Reserve. Experts point out that the uncertainty about the future of the program of quantitative easing in the U.S. keeps prices in a narrow range.

Recall that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the Fed could reduce the amount of its asset-purchase program, which now stands at $ 85 billion, if the U.S. economy shows signs of improvement. But the lack of clarity regarding the timing contributes to nervousness among market participants. Rather, the policy will announce that they will continue to buy bonds at the same rate, while maintaining the possibility to reduce the amount of this year, when the U.S. labor market continued to improve. Experts also point out that the FOMC statement may still highlight the recent improvement in the labor market, which, potentially, to once again involves the gradual decline of QE3 in the near future, and any hints of this period will be one of the most anticipated applications for the foreign exchange markets and eventually to gold.

Add that to the dynamics of trade also affects what buying in India and China, which are the largest consumers of gold in the world, remained weak, as demand declined from peak levels, which were recorded in April and May. In Shanghai gold futures fell more than 1%, while Indian gold futures fell even lower.

In addition, it was reported that stocks SPDR Gold Trust fell yesterday by 0.2% to 1,001.67 tons, the lowest level in more than four years.

The cost of the August gold futures on COMEX today rose to 1372.80 dollars an ounce.