Commodity steadies, but may resume fall as rate hike worries resurface

March 22, 2016 7:10 AM

Spot gold was trading up 0.1 percent at $1,244.3 an ounce by 0059 GMT. Prices hit the weakest in three sessions at $1,240.30 an ounce on Monday.

Customers look at gold necklaces at a jewelry store in Xuchang, Henan province, August 12, 2015.

Spot gold steadied on Tuesday after falling for three days, but looked at risk of further weakness as the dollar edged up after a Federal Reserve official speculated the next U.S. rate rise could come as soon as April.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was trading up 0.1 percent at $1,244.3 an ounce by 0059 GMT. Prices hit the weakest in three sessions at $1,240.30 an ounce on Monday.

* U.S. gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,245.30 a tonne.

* The United States may be in line for an interest rate hike as soon as April, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Monday, another sign that policymakers are comfortable allowing U.S. monetary policy to diverge from other major economies.

* U.S. home resales fell sharply in February in a potentially troubling sign for America's economy which has otherwise looked resilient to the global economic slowdown.

* Mali has upgraded its estimated below-ground gold reserves by a third to 800 tonnes, enough to maintain current levels of output for the next 15 years, said the West African nation's mines minister.

* For the top stories on metals and other news.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian stocks wobbled on Tuesday as the hawkish comments from Fed officials stoked uncertainty about policymakers' intentions less than a week after Fed Chair Janet Yellen had set out a more cautious path to rate increases this year.

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0830 Germany Markit manufacturing flash PMI Mar

0830 Germany Markit service flash PMI Mar

0900 Germany Ifo business climate Mar

0900 Euro zone Markit manufacturing flash PMI Mar

0900 Euro zone Markit service flash PMI Mar

1000 Germany ZEW economic sentiment Mar

1300 U.S. Monthly home price index

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