【TOP1 Evening】Gold Slips; Pound Falls as Optimism Fades in Last-Ditch Brexit Negotiations; Oil prices fall

Gold 

Gold prices fell on Monday on overall optimism over this week's coronavirus vaccine rollout in Britain and as the dollar bounced off a multi-year low.

Spot gold fell 0.34% to $1830.18 per ounce by 19:30 (GMT+8).

"The European session is focused on the Brexit negotiations, which are apparently not running as smoothly as expected, and that's why we're seeing gold coming down as the dollar strengthened against the euro," said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.

A Brexit deal hung in the balance as Britain and the European Union made a last-ditch attempt to strike a trade deal that would avoid a disorderly exit in just 24 days.

Also, Britain was set to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week.

"The next few trading sessions will tell us how strong the resistance area of $1,850 is, which is the first clear barrier for further recoveries for the yellow metal," ActivTrades' chief analyst Carlo Alberto De Casa said in a note.

Elsewhere, by 19:30 (GMT+8), Silver fell 1.65% to $23.749 per ounce,

Forex

The dollar started the week on the back foot on Monday after soft U.S. jobs data only solidified expectations of a fresh economic package, while the British pound eyed last-ditch trade talks between the United Kingdom and European Union.

At 19:30 (GMT+8), the U.S. dollar index was up 0.3% to 91.03.

Friday's U.S. jobs data showed non-farm payrolls increased by 245,000 last month, the smallest gain since May, in a sign the jobs recovery is losing momentum on the third wave of coronavirus infections.

Yet traders perceived the data as putting pressure on Washington to pass a new round of stimulus to help the coronavirus-battered economy, keeping overall risk appetite intact and capping the U.S. dollar against riskier currencies.

At 19:30(GMT+8), the GBP/USD fell 1.26% to 1.32677;

It retreated as much as 1.6% and government bonds advanced after a British official warned that talks could collapse in the next few hours if no progress is made. The two sides are still at odds over their longstanding disagreement over fishing.

"At some point everyone has to say the risks are too high to hold any exposure with this yo-yo of optimism and pessimism," said Jordan Rochester, a currency strategist at Nomura International Plc. "The risk now is that optimism turns to pessimism and we have to hedge for a no-deal Brexit."

At 19:30 (GMT+8), EUR/USD fell 0.14% to 1.21079; AUD/USD fell 0.59% to 0.73880; USD/JPY rose 0.05% to 104.206.

Crude Oil

Oil prices fell on Monday as a continued surge in coronavirus globally forced a series of renewed lockdowns, including strict new measures in Southern California.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $45.955 barrel, fell 0.40%, Brent was down to $48.817 a barrel, fell 0.31% by 19:30 (GMT+8).

"Crude pared earlier vaccine roll-out gains after Los Angeles county had another record high in coronavirus cases and South Korea raised their alert level," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

"COVID restrictive measures and lockdowns across the globe seem poised to keep crude prices heavy in the short-term."

Also weighing on prices, U.S. energy firms last week added oil and natural gas rigs for the 11th time in 12 weeks as producers return to the wellpad even as most are cutting spending this year and next.

Iran, meanwhile, has instructed its oil ministry to prepare installations for production and sale of crude oil at full capacity within three months, state media said on Sunday.

"Adding to the pressure on oil prices is the potential Iranian increase to production in three months. Iran is optimistic the U.S. will ease restrictions if they return back to the 2015 nuclear deal," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Stocks

Asia-Pacific stock mixed on Monday.

Nikkei 225 fell 203.80 points or 0.76%, close at 26,547.44.

S&P/ASX 200 rose 40.90 points or 0.62% to close at 6,675.00.

Hang Seng Index fell 329.07 or 1.23% to 26,506.85.

South Korea's KOSPI rose 13.99 points or 0.51% to 2,745.44.

Taiwan capitalization-weighted stock index rose 124.16 points, or 0.88%, at 14,256.60. 

There's strong consensus in markets right now and investors need to position to hedge against crowded trades, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The last time such a strong agreement on strategy existed was in late 2017 and early 2018, and that time period serves as a reminder that such a consensus view rarely plays out in its entirety, strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note Friday. Global stocks reached records in January 2018 amid massive inflows, but extended positioning in risk assets became a concern and the next month the "Volmageddon" volatility spike crushed trades that many investors had viewed as a sure thing.

"For asset allocators, what is thus important is scale exposures to avoid an overly concentrated portfolio," according to the report. "One way of scaling exposures to the consensus trading themes is by limiting exposure to the most crowded ones."

Focus Tonight

21:30(GMT+8): Canada Ivey PMI s.a (NOV), Previous:54.5;