2021.10.2617:56:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower As Dollar Advances

Gold prices drifted lower on Tuesday with a firm dollar and slightly higher Treasury yields curbing the demand for the safe-haven yellow metal.

Strong data on U.S. new home sales and consumer confidence lifted the dollar.

Meanwhile, traders look ahead to upcoming monetary policy meetings of the European Central Bank(ECB), the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Japan.

The ECB is expected to take a dovish stance when it meets on Thursday. Central bank meetings in Japan and Canada are also scheduled this week.

The U.S. Federal Reserve meets next week and it is likely that the U.S. central bank will announce plans to begin scaling back its asset purchase program.

The dollar index, which rallied to 94.02, after having tumbled to 93.71 in the Asian session, is currently at 93.97, up 0.17% from the previous close.

Gold futures for December ended down by $13.40 or about 0.7% at $1,793.40 an ounce, after having settled at a six-week high on Monday.

Silver futures for December ended lower by $0.504 at $24.088 an ounce, while Copper futures settled at $4.4860, down $0.0420 from the previous close.

A report from the Commerce Department showed new home sales in the U.S. skyrocketed in the month of September, soaring by 14% to an annual rate of 800,000 after falling by 1.4% to a downwardly revised rate of 702,000 in August.

Economists had expected new home sales to jump by 2.7% to an annual rate of 760,000 from the 740,000 originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report from the Conference Board showed consumer confidence reversed a three-month downward trend in October amid easing concerns about the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index climbed to 113.8 in October from an upwardly revised 109.8 in September. Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to edge down to 109.0 from the 109.3 originally reported for the previous month.