Gold fell more than 1 percent on Monday after US President Barack Obama said lawmakers had reached a deal to cut the country's deficit, which, if approved, would remove the threat of a default on debt that has driven bullion to a record high. But the hit to gold and relief in financial markets over the deal may be short-lived due to a bleak macroeconomic outlook.
Gold's allure as a shelter from economic storms remains strong as China's factories struggled with their weakest activity in 28 months in July and sovereign debt concerns continued to wrack the eurozone. The most-active US gold futures fell more than 1 percent to $1,608.2, but recovered to trade down 0.9 percent at $1,616 an ounce by 0634 GMT. Spot gold fell 0.8 percent to $1,613.24, off a record high of $1,632.30 set on Friday.
"The fact that the framework is now available and lawmakers are close to an agreement is reducing the safe-haven flow to gold," said Ong Yi Ling, an analyst at Phillip Futures. "People are still waiting to see details and whether the plan will pass the vote of the Congress." The US Senate is likely to vote on Monday on the proposed agreement between Democrats and Republican leaders to reduce the US deficit and avoid default.
A firmer dollar following the end of the lengthy and frustrating debt ceiling talks could further pressure gold priced in the greenback. While the deal removes the immediate threat of a first ever US default, the repercussions of the acrimonious talks are likely to reverberate for years to come. The US still faces the prospect of paying more to service its debt as it is unclear if the deal is enough to appease credit ratings agency S&P, which has threatened to strip the world's largest economy of its top-notch AAA rating. Spot platinum dropped to a low of $1,771.49, before gaining some lost ground to trade at $1,790.99, down 1.1 percent from the previous close. Spot palladium lost 0.4 percent to $836.97.