Open interest in gold futures markets shrank for the third session in a row on Monday, this time by nearly 7K contracts according to preliminary readings from CME Group. Volume followed suit and dropped for the second straight session, now by around 130.7K contracts.
Prices of the ounce of gold extended the decline for the third consecutive day on Monday. The daily retracement, however, came against the backdrop of diminishing open interest and volume and this underpins the idea that a sustained decline remains out of favour in the very near term. Further weakness should meet firm contention around the weekly low at $1896 (January 18).