Gold Edges Lower as Dollar Consolidates

Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended slightly lower on Monday for the first session since last Tuesday as dollar kept stable. Silver and platinum both went down, too.

Gold price for August delivery lost 30 cents, finishing at 940.70 U.S. dollars an ounce, paring earlier losses after touching the intraday low of 933.60 dollars and managing to stand back above 940 dollars.

Without major impetus for a big move in either direction, the precious metal failed to get reference from dollar to find its own direction as it did before. Dollar kept fluctuating in a narrow range with the benchmark rate against euro at 1.4083 dollars by the end of gold floor trading time.

Rising crude oil didn't provide enough support to gold although the August contract surged 2.33 dollars to settle at 71.49 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after Nigerian militants damaged and partly shut down an offshore oil platform belonging to Royal Dutch Shell.

September silver finished at 13.975 dollars per ounce, down 18.1 cents. October platinum fell 17.50 dollars to 1193.20 dollars an ounce.