MW: Gold futures retreat to lowest since early May
By Claudia Assis & Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures fell Friday, carrying over from two straight declining sessions that have left prices at lows last seen early this month, as investors shed the precious metal along with equities and other assets around the globe amid widespread uncertainty.
Gold for June delivery dropped $5.30, or 0.5%, to $1,182.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract settled down $4.50, or 0.4%, at $1.188.60 an ounce.
Gold prices have fallen 3.6% this week, shedding gains after hitting a record high of $1,243.10 on May 12.
The "(European) crisis is still not close to a resolution, as a number of events intended to achieve such a goal are still on the agenda," John Nadler, an analyst at Kitco Metals, said in a note to clients.
Platinum and palladium, which took a beating in the last couple of sessions, turned higher alongside copper. Silver followed gold lower.
Platinum and palladium ended at three-month lows on Thursday, losing 6.8% and 11%, respectively. "Yesterday's price rout capped the biggest decline in twelve years in palladium and the most significant drop in platinum in over seventeen months," Nadler said.
The fears of contagion from the debt crisis stoked selling in precious metals, particularly palladium and platinum, which have industrial uses and are key components of auto catalytic converters.
"Speculators are clearly seeing this as an excuse for profit-taking," analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients. Copper bucked the trend mainly on import news from China - Chinese imports of refined copper were 8% down on March, but they were still 50% more than the average in January and February and 30% above the monthly average in the second half of 2009, the analysts said.
Copper for June delivery added 13 cents, or 4.5%, to $3.08 a pound.
Silver for July delivery declined 9 cents, or 0.5%, to $17.63 an ounce.
Other commodities were under pressure. Oil prices dropped to under $70 a barrel as investors worry Europe's debt crisis would dent global growth and curb energy demand.
In foreign-exchange trading, the hard-hit euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2565, +0.0095, +0.7618%) held its own, while the dollar index (DXY 85.47, -0.10, -0.11%) rose 0.2% to 85.55.
Stocks opened lower although the S&P500 was able to quickly reverse to gains. European stocks fell.
Metals traders also keyed on a vote in Germany's lower house of Parliament, which approved its contribution toward the 750 billion-euro rescue package agreed to recently by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
The rescue deal now goes to Germany's upper house, where Chancellor Angela Merkel's government controls a majority, with a decision expected later Friday. Read more about the vote.
