YEREVAN, February 19. /ARKA/. Gold and silver quotes slightly restored their  losses on the first day of the trading week. The quotes faced such  a positive situation as Chinese investors returned to the market after their Lunar New Year celebrations. Another reason was careful deals at lower price levels. The volumes were still low during the session though, as the American markets were closed on President’s Day.

As a result, gold cost rose by 0.33% to 1,613.97 USD per troy ounce, and silver quotes climbed by 0.88% to 30.048 USD per troy ounce.

On Tuesday, during the Asian trading session precious metals were traded in a green zone. We suppose that the potential for growth of these assets is still limited as there is still fog around the mid-term perspectives for better macroeconomic statistics in the world and stronger inclination of the investors to make risky deals.

Moreover, the expected strong USD amid the current concerns around uncertain situation in the eurozone ahead of the elections in Italy do not cast any optimism here. We think prices for precious metals are likely to drop. We anticipate short-term prices for gold and silver may improve if they can reach over 1,615.70 USD and 30.10 USD per troy ounce respectively.

One of the most important orients for the investors will be the publication of the US Federal Reserve’s protocols from the last session, February 20, as they may imply earlier terms for termination of the quantitative stimulus program. If these forecasts come true, gold and silver quotes may be damaged.

Gold quotes may depend on macroeconomic statistics from the US and eurozone. Of the European news we should highlight business sentiments index by ZEW institute, business conditions index by IFO for February and preliminary figures on PMI for manufacturing sector for February. If this statistics is optimistic it may cause USD drops thus raising prices for precious metals.

The expected fluctuation range of gold quotes on Tuesday may be 1,600.0 – 1,623.0 USD per troy ounce, and 29.75 – 30.32 USD per troy ounce.

Mikael Verdyan, an analyst at FOREX CLUB, specially for ARKA news agency.
The opinion of the author does not necessarily reflect that of the agency.—0-