BIZ: Gold falls as commodities slide on car plan failure
LONDON (Reuters) - Gold, platinum and palladium fell on Friday in line with other commodities such as oil and industrial metals as the collapse of a mooted deal to rescue ailing U.S. carmakers knocked investors' confidence.
But gold recovered from lows as fears over the global economic outlook underpinned interest in the metal as a haven from risk, and the relative weakness of the dollar was also supportive, analysts said.
Spot gold was quoted at $817.10/819.10 an ounce at 1:51 p.m., down from $818.35 an ounce on Thursday. However, it was well off an earlier low of $807.00 an ounce.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery were down $8.10 at $818.50 an ounce.
"I think there still enough safe haven buying out there to hold gold up here," said Wolfgang Wrzesniok-Rossbach, head of sales at precious metals trading house Heraeus.
"That is also supported by the generally weaker dollar."
A softer dollar tends to benefit gold, which is often bought as an alternative investment to the U.S. currency.
The euro matched a seven-week high against the dollar of $1.3407 on EBS earlier in the session. It has gained 4.5 percent against the dollar this week.
Gold slipped along with other commodities such as oil and base metals after the failure of a mooted $14 billion (9.3 billion pound) plan to aid U.S. carmakers. The U.S. House of Representatives had agreed to the bailout, but the plan could not get through the Senate.
The bailout's failure, for this year at least, raised fears of an industry collapse that could threaten countless jobs, with uncertainty filtering through to the financial markets, sending investors fleeing from risky assets.
Oil prices fell by more than 7 percent, and industrial metals tumbled, with copper and nickel prices sliding by more than 5 percent each.
PLATINUM, PALLADIUM SLIDE
Equity markets also fell in Europe and Asia, while U.S. stock index futures plummeted as major automakers, including General Motors, were knocked by the collapse of the rescue deal.
Falling equities may continue to pressure gold, which can be sold to raise liquidity to cover losses on other markets, analysts say.
"Everything is lower overnight, the platinum group metals in particular, on the news that the Senate had thrown out the car company bill," Commerzbank trader Rory McVeigh said.
Platinum fell nearly 3 percent and palladium lost more than 5 percent as traders worried about the outlook for demand from carmakers, who consume about half of global supply of the two metals each year.
Troubles in the automotive sector have already knocked platinum and palladium down some 65 percent and 70 percent respectively from this year's highs reached in March.
Spot platinum fell to a session low of $793 an ounce, and was later at $801.50/821.50 an ounce against $826. Palladium was at $167/175 an ounce against $177.
Spot silver was at $10.15/10.23 an ounce, down from $10.30.