US gold futures ended slightly higher after initially scaling a one-week high on Tuesday, and bullion could run into heavy chart-based resistance in the near term, analysts said.
GOLD: June contract on Comex division of New York Mercantile Exchange settled up $3.60 at $877.70 an ounce. Ranged $872.60 to $884.50.
PLATINUM: July closed up $42.40, or 2.2 percent, at $1,969.80 an ounce. Industrial users and investors added positions after platinum's recent correction: TheBullionDesk.com Spot traded at $1,947.50/1,967.50.
PALLADIUM: June finished up $6.95, or 1.6 percent, at $431.40 an ounce. Spot at $427.50/435.50.
SILVER: July ended up 3 cents at $16.860 an ounce, ranging from $16.710 to $17.070. Spot silver at $16.84/16.91 against on Monday's late quote of $16.64/16.70. London silver fix was set at $16.70.
Wide dealings later rose 5.8 percent to a peak at $2,785. The day's low was $2,621. The market trades until 3:15 pm EDT (1915 GMT). By 1:38 pm, the July contract was up $134, or 5.1 percent, at $2,765 per tonne while the rest ranged from $4 to $150 stronger. ICE volume, light 5,344 cocoa futures contracts traded on Monday while open interest inched up 62 lots to 138,879 lots, exchange data said.
"The market is looking for something to trade on demand is slowing seasonally," said one coffee trader. The benchmark ICE July contract settled up 1.00 cent at $1.336 per lb, in a trading range from $1.316 to $1.342. The market trades until 3:15 pm EDT (1915). By 2:44 pm, the July contract was up 1.10 cents at $1.337.
The rest ranged from 0.90 to 1.20 cents higher. "The volumes were light. We were a little bit higher on the weaker dollar but otherwise there's nothing happening," another trader said. Less than 9,300 arabica contracts had traded by 2:30 pm.
Meanwhile, top producer Brazil exported 2.02 million 60-kg bags of green coffee in April, up 7 percent from 1.89 million bags in the same month a year ago, the Council of Green Coffee Exporters said. . The July robusta contract ended up $14 at $2,140 per tonne, in dealings from $2,134 to $2,185. Liffe was closed on Monday for a holiday.