Gold retreats from near 2 year high

Bengaluru - Gold gave up most of its gains on Tuesday after soaring to a near two-year peak in the previous session, with the market pulling back as it failed to break a key resistance level.

Spot gold was down 0.5% at $1 343.76 an ounce as of 08:50. Bullion touched a peak of $1 357.60 an ounce on Monday, less than $1 below a two-year high hit on June 24.

US gold was up 0.6% at $1 346.30.

Technical charts show spot gold may retrace towards support at $1 323 per ounce, as it failed to break resistance at $1 351, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

Silver fell more than 3% at one point to $19.548, before paring losses to trade 1.6% lower at $19.98 an ounce. It had jumped as much as 7%, breaking above $21 an ounce for the first time in two years, in the previous session.

"The precious metals had very strong upside momentum in the past few sessions after the Brexit referendum ... Some kind of pullback in the current market conditions seems justified," said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong's Wing Fung Financial Group.
"It could be a very short-term correction."

HSBC on Tuesday raised its 2016, 2017 average gold price forecasts to $1 275 per ounce and $1 310 an ounce respectively.

"Investment demand is driving prices and reflects the uncertain macro backdrop, dovish outlook for US interest rates, and appeal of gold in a negative rate environment," HSBC analyst James Steel said in a note.

"But gold could weaken again if the global risk thermometer recedes while the US dollar remains strong and the euro weak."

Chinese commodities futures dropped on Tuesday after big gains in the prior session, as investors pared back expectations for rapid stimulus measures to spur economic activity in the world's biggest consumer of many raw materials.

Asian shares snapped a five-session winning streak on Tuesday as investors took stock of a rally driven by hopes that central banks will provide more stimulus to offset a likely downturn triggered by Brexit.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, remained steady at 95.61.

Among other precious metals, platinum fell 0.9% to $1 056.25 an ounce.

Palladium, which declined over 4% earlier in the session, was last down 2.8% at $596.78.