2019.04.2314:38:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle At Near 4-month Low As Dollar Rises

Gold prices drifted lower on Tuesday, as the dollar gained in strength against most major currencies and the dollar index rose to a near two-year peak.

Fairly strong quarterly earnings and the recent better than expected economic data out of the U.S. and China have dimmed gold's prospects.

Traders are increasingly leaning towards riskier assets such as equities.

The dollar index rose to 97.78, gaining about 0.5%.

Gold futures for June settled at $1,273.20 an ounce, down $4.40, or 0.34% from previous close.

On Monday, gold futures for June ended up $1.60, or 0.13%, at $1,277.60 an ounce.

Silver futures for May settled at $14.791 an ounce, down $0.181 from previous close, while Copper futures for May ended down $0.0080, at $2.8935 per pound.

In addition to upbeat earnings reports from a few big-name U.S. companies, data showing an unexpected jump in new home sales in the month of March contributed to increased risk appetite of investors.

The Commerce Department report said new home sales surged up by 4.5% to an annual rate of 692,000 in March after soaring by 5.9% to a revised rate of 662,000 in February.

The continued increase surprised economists, who had expected new home sales to drop by 2.5% to a rate of 650,000 from the 667,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected spike, new home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 712,000 in November of 2017.