Three decades after London’s exchange-traded gold contract flopped, it’s coming back.
Gold prices slumped to a one-week low in European trade on Tuesday, amid growing expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike by the end of this year.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to a session low of $1,336.70 a troy ounce, the weakest since July 29. It was last at $1,337.15 by 06:59GMT, or 2:59AM ET, down $4.15, or 0.31%.
Fed funds futures prices showed traders now see a 44% of a U.S. rate hike by December, according to CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) Fed Watch tool. That compares with around 30% as recently as last week. September odds were at around 21%, compared to less than 10% late last week.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 96.44 early Tuesday, recovering from levels below 95.00 just a week ago, amid resurgent expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike by the end of this year.
The London Metal Exchange, along with the World Gold Council and a group of banks and trading firms, are starting a new venture called LMEprecious, which will introduce centrally-cleared gold and silver contracts in the first half of next year, and later add platinum and palladium, according to a joint statement.
The LME is moving into gold to capture part of the $5 trillion over-the-counter market in London, the global hub for trading the metal, as regulators push for more regulation over commodities trading and centralized clearing. The LME has been considering expanding into precious metal contracts for years while the World Gold Council has explored the possibility of introducing exchange-trading since early 2015.
Reference: Bloomberg, Investing