Gold prices rangebound in cautious trade as bonds resume selloff

Investing.com - Gold prices held steady in rangebound trading on Tuesday, as investors eyed gains in global bond yields while awaiting developments surrounding Greece's debt talks.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery shed 30 cents, or 0.03%, to trade at $1,182.70 a troy ounce during European morning hours. Futures held in a tight range between $1,179.90 and $1,184.00.

A day earlier, gold dropped $5.90, or 0.5%, to close at $1,183.00. Prices were likely to find support at $1,168.40, the low from May 1, and resistance at $1,199.30, the high from May 5.

Also on the Comex, silver futures for July delivery dipped 7.4 cents, or 0.45%, to trade at $16.24 a troy ounce. On Monday, silver slumped 15.1 cents, or 0.92%, to end at $16.31.

A renewed selloff in global government bond prices weighed on gold. Germany's 10-Year bond yield spiked 6.0 basis points, or 10.02%, to hit 0.659% early on Tuesday.

Higher bond yields dampen gold's appeal as the precious metal does not pay any interest.

Euro zone bond yields have been rising in recent sessions as deflation fears have eased amid recovering oil prices and following the introduction of the European Central Bank's massive quantitative easing program.

Meanwhile, Greece repaid a €770 million loan installment to the International Monetary Fund early Tuesday, easing concerns that it was on the verge of default.

Athens is scrambling to reach an agreement with its international creditors on a package of economic reforms in order to access fresh bailout funds and avert a liquidity crunch.

Euro group finance ministers held talks with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in Brussels on Monday but no substantial progress was made.

Greece’s government has indicated that it is still hopeful that progress will be made but euro zone officials have indicated that too many issues still remain unresolved.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.2% to hit 94.92, moving off Monday's high of 95.33.

Market players looked ahead to Wednesday's U.S. retail sales report for April, for fresh indications on the strength of the economy and the timing of a U.S. rate increase.

Recent economic reports have indicated that the economy has slowed since the start of the year prompting many investors to push back expectations on the timing of an initial rate hike by the Fed.

Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for July delivery inched up 1.1 cents, or 0.37%, to trade at $2.914 a pound, amid expectations policymakers in China will have to introduce further stimulus measures to jumpstart the economy amid lackluster growth.

On Sunday, the People's Bank of China cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 5.10% from 5.35%, in order to spur economic activity and boost growth.

It was the third rate cut since November, indicating that Beijing is becoming more aggressive in supporting the economy as its momentum slows and deflation risks rise.

The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.