LONDON: Gold prices slipped more than two percent in Europe on Wednesday as the dollar strengthened to a two-year high against a basket of currencies, and oil prices slipped nearly $3 a barrel.
Spot gold fell to a session low of $753.70 an ounce before recovering to trade at $755.60/758.10 at 0941 GMT. Late in New York on Tuesday it was quoted at $770.10 an ounce. Spot platinum slipped as low as $831 an ounce, before recovering to trade at $841/861, against $885.50 an ounce late in New York on Tuesday. Its sister metal palladium fared slightly better, slipping to $174/182 from $179.50 an ounce. Among other precious metals, silver was trading at $9.86/9.94 an ounce against $10.07.
Copper falls 5% on firm dollar: Copper tumbled five percent to its lowest in almost three years on Wednesday, extending a near five percent overnight loss on dollar strength and worries about demand. The dollar soared to a two-year high against the euro as a worsening global economic outlook prompted more investors to liquidate risky assets in favour of the US currency. London Metal Exchange copper for delivery in three months dropped to $4,264.50 a tonne, its weakest since December 2005 and in Shanghai, copper plunged by its 5 percent limit to 36,070 yuan ($5,278) a tonne, a three-year low.
By mid-session LME copper traded at $4,280 a tonne. Aluminium was at $2,038 a tonne after hitting a three-year low of $2,031, down 2.3 percent from Tuesday’s $2,080. But prices were envisaged not to fall much further. Lead fell eight percent to a low of $1,260 a tonne — the lowest since September 2006 — before trading at $1,266, down $104 from Tuesday. Zinc shed $14 to $1,151/1,151.5 a tonne and earlier it touched $1,118 — the lowest since December 2004 and nickel traded down at $10,560 from $10,700/10,705. Tin lost 6.4 percent to $11,510, its weakest since January 2007, before being quoted at $11,725/11,825, down $575. reuters
