BLBG: Gold Plunges to 13-Month Low as Dollar Gains, Funds Liquidate
By Marianne Stigset
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Gold fell to a 13-month low in London as the dollar strengthened and fund investors liquidated their holdings across most commodities. Platinum also declined.
The euro fell to the lowest in almost two years against the dollar, while the pound traded near its lowest in more than five years. Gold has had a correlation of 0.62 to the euro-dollar exchange rate this year, up from 0.58 last year, Bloomberg data show. A figure of 1 would mean the two move in lockstep. European stocks fell for a third day and Asian stocks slumped.
Gold was ``put under pressure as the dollar rallied,'' James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London, wrote in a report. ``Speculative selling continues to hammer commodity prices.''
Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as $10.53, or 1.4 percent, to $719.92 an ounce, the lowest since Sept. 18, 2007, and stood at $724.75 an ounce as of 10:48 a.m. in London. Gold futures for December dropped $10.70, or 1.5 percent, to $724.50 in electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold may drop as low as $700 ``before finding more substantial demand,'' Moore said.
Gold slipped to $726 an ounce in the morning ``fixing'' in London, used by some mining companies to sell production, from $744 at the previous afternoon fixing.
Investment in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, fell to 755.64 metric tons on Oct. 21, down 1.9 percent from a record 770.6 tons on Oct. 10.
Shares of commodity companies fell on concern that slower economic growth will curb demand for raw materials. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, slumped 7.9 percent in London trading.
`Liquidating Gold'
``People are liquidating gold and other commodities as their losses in stock markets deepen,'' said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at IDO Securities Co. in Tokyo.
The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials plunged 4.5 percent to 266.14 yesterday, the lowest since July 27, 2004.
``The only positive point we can make about the commodity markets is that investor sentiment is as unanimous as we have seen for some years,'' John Reade, an analyst at UBS AG, wrote in a report. ``The unanimous view that industrial commodities will trade lower due to a global economic slowdown is a clear sign of capitulation and while this does not mean that prices will now bounce, it is a sign that we are approaching the end.''
Among other metals for immediate delivery, silver dropped 2.5 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $9.525 an ounce, palladium fell $5.50, or 3.1 percent, to $173 an ounce and platinum declined $1, or 0.1 percent, to $843.50 an ounce.
Platinum fell to $837 an ounce in the morning fixing in London from $852 at the previous afternoon fixing. Palladium declined to $175 an ounce, from $178.
To contact the reporter on this story: Marianne Stigset in Oslo at mstigset@bloomberg.net