Gold prices firm up, Dubai gold touches Dh149.25

Gold prices strengthened on weak US data

Gold prices inched up on Monday as weaker-than-expected economic data from the US and a missile test by North Korea over the weekend pressured the dollar.
22k gold was priced at Dh140 today, while 24k touched Dh149.25.
Spot gold was up 0.1 at $1,229.81 per ounce at 0321 GMT. The yellow metal rose about 0.3 percent on Friday. US gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,229.90 an ounce.
North Korea said on Monday it had successfully conducted a newly developed mid-to-long range missile test on Sunday, supervised by leader Kim Jong Un and aimed at verifying the capability to carry a "large scale heavy nuclear warhead."

"It (North Korea's missile test) is underpinning support for gold but at the moment its obviously not escalated to the point where investors are becoming overly worried about," said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes.
"It (North Korea-US relations) has been an issue for some time. Throwing in Trump into the mix sends a bit of ambiguity into the market. So subsequently (investors are) a bit more cautious about the outcome than they have been in the past."
US data on Friday showed a smaller-than-expected 0.4 percent increase in April retail sales from the previous month, while a disappointing report on consumer prices raised concerns about the retail sector and the broader economy.

"The data just reaffirms the view that we are only going to see two additional (US) rate hikes this year and certainly nothing more, that provides some additional support," Hynes said.
Gold is highly sensitive to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
Spot gold may end its current bounce in a narrow range of $1,229-$1,236.60 per ounce, and then revisit its May 9 low of $1,214, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
The dollar started the week on the defensive on Monday with the dollar index , which measures the greenback's value versus euro, yen and four other major currencies, easing about 0.1 percent.
Hedge funds and other money managers cut their net long position in COMEX gold to a six-week low in the week ended May
9, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed.

Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.2 percent to $16.49.

• Gold and Forex