Precious Metals And Base Metals Trading Mixed

Gold is trading at 1186.10 gaining $2 in the Asian session while silver declined 55 points to trade at 16.087 diverging from gold. Platinum gained $6.50 to 1068.60. There seems to be no overall guiding factor in the morning session. Ordinarily when the US dollar gains gold moves in the opposite direction.  The dollar surged 51 points to 95.03.

Wall Street ended higher on Monday with the NASDAQ index closing at a record high.  Small cap indices took to record closing while the main benchmarks posted moderate gains in the US, as headline news on Greece and potential agreement between its lenders to avert a default spurred a global equity rally. The Greeks pitched a last‐itch reform package to its creditors on Sunday.  Eurozone finance ministers, meeting in Brussels, hailed the proposal as a step forward. Further, sentiments boosted after European policy makers yesterday said that the Eurozone is working toward a deal to provide bailout aid for Greece. Greece’s new offer on a reform package to avoid a default on its debts raised hopes that a tangible deal with international creditors was still possible, lifting global stock indexes, reducing investors’ interest for assets perceived as safe such as gold and bonds.

Copper recovered from its lowest price in months to trade at 2.606 up by 35 points unaffected by the Chinese HSBC PMI data this morning. The HSBC/Markit Flash China Manufacturing PMI edged up to 49.6 in June, a three-month high, from 49.2 in May, but remained below the 50 mark, which separates contraction from expansion. Japanese manufacturing activity contracted slightly in June with the Markit/JMMA flash Japan Manufacturing PMI falling to a seasonally adjusted 49.9 in June from a final 50.9 in May.

Copper and nickel led metals higher as manufacturing in China showed signs of stabilizing and amid speculation a deal is near between Greece and its euro-area creditors. Copper rose as much as 2 percent and nickel advanced for the first time in four days. A private gauge of China’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index in June edged closer to the reading of 50 that signals expansion.

Aluminum dropped to its lowest in over 16 months on Friday while copper fell to its weakest since March on a firmer dollar, worries about demand in top metals consumer China and uncertainty over Greek debt talks. Zinc and lead also slid to three-month troughs in a broad-based lurch lower on the London Metal Exchange as speculators piled on the pressure.