Gold was near unchanged overnight, but silver and platinum broke into new high ground for the moves. The comments from China's Vice Premier Liu lent some optimism on trade, but the market was also awaiting another vote on Brexit today in the UK Parliament.
Investor interest in gold remains firm, as indicated by Bloomberg's report overnight that gold ETF's added 217,465 troy ounces to their holdings in the last trading session and that they have risen 16% this year their highest level since at least October, 2018.
Power outages in South Africa have raised concerns about mine output, which could affect gold and PGMs. South Africa's main power utility said over the weekend that it sees a low risk of rolling blackouts this week.
Despite a sharply lower dollar last week, gold stayed confined to a narrow range, and this could be troubling for the bulls. The dollar index fell sharply for the second straight day on Friday and traded to its lowest level since September 13th, and yet December gold and silver both closed lower on the day and spent the entire session inside Thursday's range.
Silver did manage to break out of last week's range overnight and trade to its highest level since October 10th, and perhaps it may take a leadership role this week. Anticipation of more rate cuts from the Fed and what appears to be a steady appetite by some of the world's central banks to accumulate gold provide long-term support.
Friday's Commitments of Traders report showed managed money traders were net sellers of 29,879 contracts gold for the week ending October 15th, reducing their net long to 219,753. Non-commercial & non-reportable traders combined were net sellers of 33,370, reducing their net long to 319,931. These traders' long positions are down 25%-35% from their records from early September, which provides some room for new buying to emerge.
In silver, managed money traders were net sellers of 5,733 contracts, reducing their net long to 41,759. Non-commercial & non-Reportable traders were net sellers of 7,639, reducing their net long to 74,158.
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