Metals: Prices Edge Higher

Gold prices edged higher on Monday, reversing losses as the U.S. dollar gave up the day's gains.

Gold for August delivery settled up 0.3% at $1,213.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading at the lowest levels since March 15 earlier in the session.

Meanwhile, copper for September delivery settled near flat at $2.6475 a pound in New York, after fluctuating between gains and losses throughout the day.

While expectations for central banks to raise interest rates this year have put pressure on gold, investors are questioning whether these events have been priced into gold as it's fallen to a four-month low, said Ira Epstein, a strategist at the Linn Group.

"The market needs more bear information to go with it," he said.

Gold investors are also taking cues from the U.S. dollar, which has declined nearly 5% year to date, Mr. Epstein said. The WSJ Dollar Index pared gains Monday and was recently trading near flat at 88.37. Gold is priced in dollars and becomes more expensive to foreign buyers when the U.S. currency strengthens.

Over the coming weeks, traders should expect considerable volatility from precious metals, with Friday's jobs figures meaning that any speeches from Federal Reserve members before its July 26 interest rate decision will be scrutinized even more closely than usual, said Simona Gambarini, a commodities economist at Capital Economics.

This week alone sees speeches from five members, in addition to congressional testimony from Chairwoman Janet Yellen scheduled Wednesday and Thursday.

Elsewhere, base metals investors were keeping an eye on Antofagasta PLC's Chilean Zaldívar mine, where workers were due to vote on wage proposals on Monday. Unions were advising against accepting those proposals, according to Alastair Munro, a broker at Marex Spectron.

Write to Stephanie Yang at stephanie.yang@wsj.com and David Hodari at David.Hodari@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 10, 2017 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)