Gold and silver suffered some losses today, though compared to the gains both metals made last week they really didn’t fare too badly. It is now more than evident that a lot of the workers in the US and Europe are using this time of the summer in order to take their vacations and spend time with their family. Because a lot of people are taking the latter parts of August off, the trading atmosphere has been unusually quiet.

There were no major reports of economic data from the United States on Monday, something that rarely ever happens. In other news, we examine the decline of the Indian Rupee as well as the ongoing unrest in Egypt.

Rupee On the Decline

Though this next story was happening in full force only a week ago, the world marketplace’s attention was more fixated on the rising spot values of gold and silver than anything. The indian currency, the Rupee, has been on a steady decline since last week and though losses are devastating up to this point, experts are under the impression that the decline will continue during the overnight hours.

This currency decline is being credited as a major reason behind why gold and silver have made such large gains over the past week or so. At this point, the Rupee is at record lows when compared to the US Dollar. We will monitor this situation as the week progresses as to look out for any major developments.

Tensions Persist in Egypt

It has been a while since Mohamed Morsi was ousted from his position as president though pro-Morsi supporters are still protesting in the streets. Despite most of the protests being peaceful, some have evolved into violent demonstrations that often require the police to intervene. This has become a recurring theme and due to this fact the newly appointed governing officials in Egypt have give ntheir police forces the authority to use “deadly force” when necessary when dealing with protesters. Thanks to this questionable decision by the government, the death toll in Egypt has risen faster in the past few days than it has over the course of the past month.

The uneasy tensions in Egypt have helped boost the prospect of gold and silver as safe-haven assets. Apart from the authority to use “deadly force”, given to police by the government, the governing party in Egypt has done very little to quell the violence and demonstrations. Investors would be keen to keep a close eye on this situation as it progresses into the week.

Physical demand for gold continues to be strong as many factors from events around the world are making the thought of investing in gold look more and more attractive.