SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Gold futures edged lower in electronic trading Friday, as the U.S. dollar advanced and dulled the investment appeal of precious metals.
Gold for June delivery GCM11 +0.05% lost $3.60, or 0.2%, to $1,503.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
Silver for July delivery SIN11 +0.43% dropped 55 cents, or 1.6%, to $34.27.
Prices have come off sharply since silver hit nearly $50 an ounce last month, but the pace of the retreat has eased over the past two days.
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“This recent price correction doesn’t change the basic fundamentals, which include good demand for silver to make coins in a number of countries,” said Terry Hanlon, president of precious-metals firm Dillon Gage Metals.
Hanlon sees support for silver at $32 an ounce, citing growth last year in global demand for silver for industrial applications and jewelry.
“Investors [will] take a brief breather on the sidelines before getting back into the silver market on the buy-side,” Hanlon said.
The U.S. dollar’s decline in recent months has drawn investors to precious metals as a hedge against currency weakness, but the greenback improved on Friday.
The U.S. dollar index DXY -0.13% which measures the currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose to 75.272, from 75.199 in North American trading late Thursday.
The broader metals complex was mixed in Asian trading on Friday, with copper for July delivery HGN11 +0.79% gaining 1 cent, or 1.5%, to $3.98 a pound.
Platinum for July delivery PLN11 +0.16% added $1.80, or 0.1% to $1,772.80 an ounce, while the June contract for sister-metal palladium PAM11 +0.20% lost $1.75, or 0.2%, to $715.10 an ounce.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
