By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Gold futures edged higher Thursday, taking back a fraction of heavy losses made this week, although silver futures stayed in the doldrums.
Gold futures for June delivery GCM11 +0.26% rose $5.10 to $1,520.40 an ounce in electronic trading on Thursday, but silver futures for July delivery SIN11 -0.49% kept their downward path, trading down 20 cents to $39.17 an ounce.
On Wednesday, “the general liquidation in a number of commodity complexes continued to widen — and deepen,” said analysts at MF Global.
“The focus of the markets seems to have shifted away from currency influences and more towards the more urgent theme of rising inflation and interest rates, both precursors of slowing growth,” they said.
The Bank of England and the European Central Bank were slated to announce interest-rate decisions later Thursday. Last month, the ECB raised its key cash rate, as the central bank focused on inflation trends in the currency bloc. See currencies report for more on the ECB meeting.
