2019.07.2314:41:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower As Dollar Rallies

Gold prices drifted lower on Tuesday, as the dollar strengthened against most major currencies after President Donald Trump and congressional leaders agreed on debt and budget deal in order to avert a government shutdown or federal default.

Weak existing home sales data limited the yellow metal's losses.

Traders were also looking ahead to the upcoming Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

The two-year debt and budget deal will enable the U.S. Treasury to ramp its short-term borrowing and build a cash pile, which had dropped down to around $195 billion in late April.

The greenback was also supported by the IMF's forecast that the U.S. economy will see a 2.6% growth this year. The IMF lowered its overall global growth outlook to 3.2% for the year.

The dollar index rose to 97.71, gaining about 0.5%.

Gold futures for August ended down $5.20, or about 0.4%, at $1,421.70 an ounce.

Silver futures for September ended up $0.065, at $16.476 an ounce, while Copper futures for September ended lower by $0.0220, at $2.7000 per pound.

In economic news, existing home sales pulled back by much more than anticipated in the month of June, after seeing a notable increase in the previous month, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Tuesday showed.

NAR said existing home sales tumbled by 1.7% to annual rate of 5.27 million in June after soaring by 2.9% to an upwardly revised rate of 5.36 million in May.

Economists had expected existing home sales to edge down by 0.2% to a rate of 5.33 million from the 5.34 million originally reported for the previous month.