2018.12.1715:03:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle At Over 1-week High

Gold futures settled at over one-week high on Monday, as the U.S. dollar slipped against most major currencies on disappointing economic data and equities declined on global growth concerns.

Markets are looking ahead to the upcoming Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting. The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points, but it looks very unlikely that there will be frequent increases in the coming year.

The Fed's statement and forecasts that will be released after the announcement about rate, will provide clues about future rate hikes.

Meanwhile, fears of a possible U.S. government shutdown over security on the border with Mexico too weighed on the greenback and contributed to its weakness. In the event of the Trump administration and Democrats not agreeing on a new spending plan for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, several U.S. government operations could shut down at midnight Friday.

The dollar index declined to 96.52, losing about 0.4%.

Gold futures for February ended up $10.40, or 0.8%, at $1,251.80 an ounce. On Friday, gold futures settled at $1,241.40 an ounce, down $6.00, or 0.5%.

Silver futures for March ended at $14.759 an ounce, up $0.122 from Friday's close.

Copper futures for March settled at $2.754 per pound, declining from Friday's close of $2.763 per pound.

In economic news, After reporting a sharp pullback in U.S. homebuilder confidence in the previous month, the National Association of Home Builders released a report on Monday unexpectedly showing a continued deterioration in confidence in the month of December.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped to 56 in December after tumbling to 60 in November. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 61.

With the unexpected monthly decrease, the housing market index tumbled to its lowest level since hitting 54 in May of 2015.

Business activity in the New York manufacturing sector saw substantially slower growth in the month of December, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.

The New York Fed said its general business conditions index tumbled to 10.9 in December after rising to 23.3 in November.

While a positive reading still indicates growth in regional manufacturing activity, economists had expected the index to dip to 20.0.