Gold rises modestly in subdued Asian trade

               Gold futures traded slightly higher in the early part of Monday’s Asian session in calm trade as traders are still mulling when the Federal Reserve could taper its quantitative easing program, which would likely wreak havoc on gold prices. 

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery rose 0.06% to USD1,314.00 per troy ounce in Asian trading Monday. The December contract settled down 0.79% at USD,1313.20 per ounce last Friday. 

On the week, the precious metal lost 2.9%, the largest weekly decline in seven weeks. 

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,273.80 a troy ounce, the low from October 17 and resistance at USD1,359.40, the high from October 30. 

Gold came under some pressure last Friday following some positive U.S. data that encouraged investors to stick with riskier assets. 

In U.S. economic news out last Friday, the Institute of Supply Management said Friday that its manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 56.4 in October, the highest since April 2011, from 56.2 in September. Economists had expected the index to tick down to 55.0. 

The data sparked speculation that the Fed could move to trim its USD85 billion-per-month bond-buying program sooner than some market participants would like to see happen. In recent weeks, markets have become comfortable with the fact the Fed is likely to taper in the latter part of the first quarter of 2014. 

However, the Fed recently reiterated its tapering plans are not tied to the calendar, but rather to the strength of U.S. data, meaning bad economic data is actually good for stocks and gold. 

Elsewhere, Comex silver for December delivery rose 0.13% to USD21.865 an ounce while copper for December delivery added 0.14% to USD3.304 an ounce. - investing.com