Gold eases on fall in exchange-traded fund holdings, stimulus fears

Gold slipped a touch on Tuesday, pressured by a sharp fall in holdings in bullion-backed exchange traded funds and persistent fears over the end of easy central bank money.

Spot gold was down $1 at $1,234.89 an ounce, after gaining 1 per cent on Monday as the dollar eased from three-year highs. While, Comex gold was down slightly at $1,234.50.

Bullion has fallen about 10 per cent since Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last month said the economy was recovering strongly enough for the U.S. central bank's $85 billion monthly bond-buying stimulus to be reduced as soon as later this year.

Global stock indexes climbed on Monday as the upcoming U.S. earnings season added to investor optimism after last week's robust U.S. jobs data.

Hedge fund manager John Paulson's gold fund has lost 65 per cent of its worth so far this year after the portfolio declined 23 per cent last month, two people familiar with the fund said on Monday.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 1.56 per cent to 946.96 tonnes on Monday - their lowest since February 2009.

Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish bets in gold and silver futures and options in the week to July 2, a report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Monday.

Russian precious metals and gems repository Gokhran hopes to start buying gold again on the domestic market in 2014 after a two-year break, a source told Reuters.

Market news
The dollar paused in its rally as investors bought beaten-down currencies such as the Australian dollar on Tuesday, though its broad uptrend is seen intact as the market tries to position for when the Fed will start to slow its stimulus.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei average opened up 1.32 per cent on Tuesday.

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2013