(Kitco News) - The gold market continues to face solid selling pressure, with prices falling to session lows as the U.S. housing sector sees an uptick in construction activity, signaling further resilience in the broader economy.
Housing starts jumped nearly 11% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.502 million units, following February’s revised reading of 1.356 million units, the Commerce Department announced on Wednesday. The data were better than expected, as economists had been looking for a more modest increase to 1.38 million.
U.S. housing starts are up 10.8% over the past 12 months, the report said.
While current construction activity has picked up, the housing sector faces additional challenges, as the number of permits issued remains muted.
The report said that building permits dropped nearly 11% in March to a rate of 1.372 million, compared to February’s revised rate of 1.538 million. The data were slightly weaker than expected, as economists had been looking for 1.39 million permits issued.
The number of building permits issued is down more than 7% compared to last year.
Although gold is not seeing a major reaction to the better-than-expected housing market data, it continues to struggle. Spot gold was last trading at $4,553.50 an ounce, down nearly 1% on the day.
