Gold heads for first monthly loss in 2014 on U.S. rates outlook

By Glenys Sim, Bloomberg

Gold headed for the first monthly decline this year as signs of a U.S. recovery backed the case for the Federal Reserve to press on with reducing stimulus. Palladium was poised to advance for a second month.

Gold fell 2.2 percent this month as U.S economic data including durable goods orders beat estimates, while Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that the central bank’s debt-buying program may end this year with interest rates starting to rise in 2015. The Fed cut monthly asset purchases by $10 billion at the last three meetings.

“Yellen alluded to a rate hike which has pressured gold lower, but investors should remember that while data is improving, the U.S. economy is still far from strong,” Sun Yonggang, a macroeconomic strategist at Everbright Futures Co., said from Shanghai. “While tension between Russia and Ukraine still exist, it isn’t rising for now and that’s also hurt sentiment towardgold.”

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