Gold futures in New York crawled higher in early dealings on Tuesday, recovering a bit from 10-week lows as some investors viewed Monday's metals sell-off as a buying opportunity, traders said.
Prices failed to rise convincingly above the psychological $600 level by midmorning, however, as intermittent selling continued to offset interest from bargain hunters.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, December delivery gold was up $1.20 at $598.50 an ounce at 10:22 am EDT (1422 GMT), dealing between $591.50 and $607. Prices remained technically vulnerable after sliding more than $50 in the last week following a failed post-summer rally, and buying spurts have lacked follow-through, sources said.
"It's a quiet day; everybody got murdered yesterday when the funds got out, but there are still a lot more to get out," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management. COMEX gold shed 3.2 percent in value on Monday, sinking as low as $589.60. The market has lost around 22 percent since it rallied to a 26-year peak in mid-May at $732 an ounce.
Estimated COMEX volume was a modest 14,000 lots at 10 am technically, COMEX gold in the last few weeks had run into upside resistance at $648.50, causing prices to subsequently decline. Gradually, gold broke below support at $615 and then $610, and on Monday, it sank below the psychological level of $600.
Spot gold rose to $591.20/592.70 an ounce, above $591.00/2.50 at New York's last close. Tuesday's afternoon fix in London by bullion dealers was at $590.70. COMEX December silver rose from a six-week low, climbing 5 cents to $11.29 an ounce, in a range of $11.1950 to $11.52. Spot silver hit $11.16/11.23 an ounce, from $11.09/11.16 previously. It fixed at $11.34 on Tuesday. Over at NYMEX, October platinum futures rose $7.40 to $1,208 an ounce. Spot platinum firmed to $1,200/1,205. December palladium gained $1.95 to $318 an ounce. In the spot market, palladium edged down $1 to $311/316.
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