Investing.com - Gold prices extended losses on Tuesday, as investors digested data on U.S. inflation and building permits.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for August delivery fell to a session low of $1,259.00 a troy ounce, the weakest since June 12, before trimming losses to last trade at $1,262.20 during U.S. morning hours, down 1.03%, or $13.10.
Gold hit $1,285.10 on Monday, the most since May 27, before settling at $1,275.30, up 0.09%, or $1.20. Prices were likely to find support at $1,250.10, the low from June 10 and resistance at $1,285.10, the high from June 16.
Also on the Comex, silver for July delivery shed 0.92%, or 18.2 cents, to trade at $19.53 a troy ounce.
The U.S. Department of Labor said that consumer prices rose by as a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month, above forecasts for a 0.2% gain. Year-over-year, consumer prices rose at an annualized rate of 2.1% in May, above expectations for 2% and up from 2% in April.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.3% last month, compared to expectations for 0.2%. Core consumer prices rose 0.2% in April.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 2% in May, up from 1.8% in April and above expectations for 1.9%.
At the same time, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month fell by 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted 991,000 units from April’s total of 1.059 million. Analysts expected building permits to decline by 0.1% to 1.05 million units in May.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts dropped by 6.5% last month to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.001 million units from April’s total of 1.071 million, disappointing expectations for a decline of 3.7% to 1.034 million units.
Investors now looked ahead to the outcome of the upcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting on Wednesday, as they await fresh indications on the timing of possible interest rates increases.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for July delivery eased down 0.01%, or 0.1 cents, to trade at $3.049 a pound.