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·         Gold prices fell on Friday as a stronger dollar and an uptick in U.S. Treasury yields weighed on the safe-haven metal, while investors awaited U.S. personal consumption data later in the day to gauge inflationary pressure.

 

·         Spot gold fell 0.4% to $1,887.90 per ounce by 0653 GMT. Bullion has risen 0.4% this week, on track for its fourth straight weekly gain.

 

·         U.S. gold futures slipped 0.3% to $1,892.30.

 

·         "Gold has been a little bit on the defensive side. Technically it was very overbought and on the fundamental side, the dollar had a big move up yesterday and that started to impact gold," ED&F Man Capital Markets analyst Edward Meir said.

 

·         "Gold is likely to consolidate around this $1,900 mark for a little while longer. Maybe with the next set of numbers that are more inflationar, we could start another move up."

 

·         The dollar index was up 0.1%, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.617%, translating into higher opportunity cost for holding non-yielding bullion. [US/] [USD/]

 

·         Meanwhile, the New York Times reported on Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden will seek $6 trillion in federal spending for the 2022 fiscal year.

·         Also on investors' radar is the U.S. personal consumption report due later in the day.

 

·         "It's likely that even if inflation is higher than expected, the central bankers are going to be still dovish," Avtar Sandu, senior commodities manager at Phillip Futures, said in a note.

 

·         "What really matters for gold are real rates ... central bankers would continue to keep the rates low, which would be bullish for gold."

 

·         Spot gold may test a resistance at $1,911, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. [TECH/C]

 

·         Silver fell 0.9% to $27.60 per ounce, and platinum eased 0.5% to $1,174.17.

 

·         Palladium rose 0.3% to $2,813.78, with prices getting a fillip after Russia's Nornickel projected a wider deficit in 2021.

 

 

 

·         Europe has passed turning point but still needs ECB support: Schnabel

 

The euro zone economy has reached a turning point and the recent rise in borrowing costs reflects improved fundamentals, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel told Reuters, playing down concerns that rising yields risk choking off growth.

 

Facing a persistent uptick in borrowing costs, the ECB must decide on the future pace of its emergency bond buys at a June 10 meeting and a growing chorus of policymakers is calling for a steady flow of stimulus, fearing that the recovery might otherwise falter.

 

Schnabel, the head of the ECB’s market operations, took a benign view of the rise in nominal yields, however, arguing that it was expected and that financing conditions remain favourable, in line with the bank’s December commitment.

 

 

·         Goldman says China is no longer center of commodities pricing

Goldman Sachs said it no longer saw China as the center of commodities pricing, reasoning the pace of demand recovery in developed markets suggested Beijing as a buyer has been crowded out by Western consumers.

 

“The bullish commodity thesis is neither about Chinese speculators nor Chinese demand growth. It is about scarcity and the DM-led recovery,” the bank said in a note dated May 27.

 

The market is beginning to reflect this, as copper prices are increasingly driven by Western manufacturing data rather their Chinese counterparts, it said.

 

·         Olympics-Japan set to extend COVID-19 states of emergency ahead of Games

Japan was set on Friday to extend a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas by about three weeks to June 20 as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of easing less than two months before the Summer Olympics open.

 

·         Japan to consider sharing COVID-19 vaccines amid calls to help Taiwan

Japan said on Friday it would consider sharing its COVID-19 vaccines with other countries as a ruling party committee urged it to provide a portion of its AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) vaccine stock to Taiwan.

Taiwan is battling a spike in domestic infections and has vaccinated only about 1% of its population, while Japan has secured more than 400 million doses, double what it needs for its adult population

·         Singapore plans to vaccinate students, then everyone else

Singapore plans to roll out vaccines to students, followed by everyone else eligible, in what will be a “great acceleration" of vaccinations in the country, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in an interview on CNN.

·         South Asia crosses 30 million COVID-19 cases as India battles second wave

Coronavirus infections in the South Asia region surpassed 30 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally of official data, led by India which is struggling with a second COVID-19 wave and a vaccine shortage across the region.​

 

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The South Asia region - India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka - accounts for 18% of global cases and almost 10% of deaths. But there is growing suspicion that official tallies of infections and deaths are not reflecting the true extent of the problem.

 

 

Reference: CNBC, Reuters