(Reuters) – U.S. gold and copper futures weakened at the start of the trading week on Monday, pressured by European debt worries and higher oil prices.
Fundamentals stated that U.S. gold futures fell in line with the euro, equities and other commodities, as worries over the euro zone debt crisis and the impact of high crude oil prices on economic recovery spurred risk aversion.
U.S. copper futures were also under pressure as Chinese demand remained weak, high oil prices threatened to derail a fragile global economy and as investors fretted about how Europe would fund its mountain of debt.
Looking forward, China’s National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release the official manufacturing activity number on Thursday, and if it confirms last week’s poor HSBC flash data reading, copper may be prone to more selling.
