Gold futures in New York rose on trade buying early on Tuesday, as an absence of speculative selling, coupled with a steady euro and higher crude oil, drew investors to the precious commodity, traders said.
By 10:19 am EDT, December delivery gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division was up $1.10 at $444.10 an ounce, trading from $442.80 to $445.50.
It was an inside day technically, with the session high and low both holding within Tuesday's trading range. "We held the overnight low and we're drifting higher. There is scale-down buying by some of the dealers," said a COMEX floor trader. "We've had decent turnover the last couple of days, but we're waiting on something." Estimated volume was 13,000 lots at 10 am.
Dealers said they expected range-bound trade in many markets as no major US economic reports were due until Wednesday, when figures on durable goods orders in July are released.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's latest weekly Commitments of Traders data showed the non-commercial net long stance hit a record net long of 157,607 lots by last Tuesday.
In another bearish signal for the market, analysts said commercial players were now massively positioned net short in gold futures and possibly a touch net long in the US dollar.
However, gold might be uncovering some support from increasing seasonal demand in Asia, dealers said.
Physical buying was picking up in top consumer India ahead of a series of religious festivals, said traders. The season peaks in November during Diwali. Spot gold changed hands at $438.90/439.60 an ounce, up from its last late New York quote at $437.70/8.50.
September silver futures dipped 3.0 cents to $7.03 an ounce, dealing from $7.095 to $7.00. Speculators were rolling September positions into next-active December before delivery period starts next month.
Spot silver fetched $7.01/7.04 an ounce, versus $7.04/07 late on Monday.
In NYMEX trade, October platinum futures rose $3.90 to $897 an ounce. Spot platinum brought $891/895. Thinly traded September palladium climbed $2.55 to $185 an ounce. Spot returned $181/184.