Los Angeles CA, October 23 (Tangible Investments) — by James O’Dell — Precious metals prices were lower on Monday as stronger dollar weighs on Gold. Gold is down 0.53 percent to $1,273.20 an ounce after sliding $9.70 on Friday to end the week at $1,280.00.

Silver is down 0.59 percent to $16.90 an ounce after easing $0.23 on Friday to close at $17.00. The Gold/Silver ratio rose to 75.29 as Gold outperformed Silver. Platinum is down 0.76 percent to $914.00 an ounce. Palladium is down 0.93 percent to $955.00 an ounce.

Gold hit two-week lows in early trading on Monday after Japanese Prime Minister Abe won re-election, boosting the U.S. Dollar. This comes on the heels of the passage of a Budget Blueprint by the Senate on Friday.

“(Gold) is just following what the dollar is doing,” said Natixis analyst Bernard Dahdah. “People are also getting more excited about the stock markets, and that removes a bit of business from Gold.”

Spot “Gold has fallen to $1,275 per troy ounce this morning, which puts it on the 100-day moving average,” said Carsten Fristch, of Commerzbank, in a note. “Selling pressure is being generated by a firmer U.S. dollar that is appreciating on the back of hopes of a tax reform and the expectation of higher interest rates in the U.S.”

Geopolitical Tensions Supporting Gold

Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions around the globe continue to support safe-haven Gold. In Spain, Prime Minister Rajoy announced Saturday that he would dissolve the Catalonian government under Article 155 of Spain’s Constitution.

Catalans are criticizing Rajoy’s tactic of invoking article 155 of the national constitution to take control of their region. The regional parliament’s speaker, Carme Forcadell, refused to accept Madrid’s actions and accused Rajoy of staging a “coup.” Spain has the fourth largest economy in the euro-zone and 20 percent of that economy is generated by Catalonia which is now facing its biggest political crisis in decades.

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