Investing.com - Gold prices fell in Asia on Monday with risk assets taking a breather as Hurricane Irma is downgraded in intensity and an possible ICBM test by North Korea at the weekend failed to materialize.
Gold futures for December delivery slid 0.73% to $1,341.33 a troy ounce on the he Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Hurricane Irma knocked out power to more than 2.4 million homes and businesses in Florida on Sunday, threatening millions more as it crept up the state's west coast, and full restoration of service will take weeks, local electric utilities said.
But after Hurricane Irma hit Florida on Sunday morning as a dangerous Category 4 storm, the second highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, it weakened to a Category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour (177 kph).
Japan reported core machinery orders for July jumped 8.0%, compared with a 4.4% gain seen on month and at a 7.5% drop, compared with an expected decline of 7.3% on year.
Last week, gold prices rose to the highest level in a year on Friday as the dollar remained under pressure amid doubts over prospects for a third Federal Reserve rate hike this year.
Diminished expectations for a third rate hike this year compounded by heightened tensions with North Korea and worries over the economic impact of hurricanes in the southeastern U.S. pressured the dollar lower.
Concerns over political turmoil in Washington have also fed into recent dollar weakness.
An agreement to postpone U.S. debt ceiling talks until December, which would coincide with the Fed's policy meeting have diminished chances for a rate hike.
Gold is highly sensitive to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar.
After rising to the highest level in almost three years, prices were hit on Friday after a report showed that while Chinese copper imports rose by around 11% in August from the same month a year earlier, they were unchanged from the previous month. The data raised concerns over softening demand from the world’s largest copper consumer.
But on Monday, copper futures on the Comex were reproted up 0.26% to $3.047 a pound as demand for the metal might gain on rebuilding in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.