By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures traded modestly lower on Thursday, giving back some of the gains amassed over the last four sessions and unable to get much traction from negative economic news and a weaker dollar.
Gold for August delivery GCQ11 -0.56% , the contract with the most open interest, retreated $5.80, or 0.4%, to $1,522.10 an ounce in the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for June delivery GCM11 -0.54% , with the most volume, traded at $1,521.90 an ounce.
Silver, which rallied more than 3% over the past couple of days, was also giving back some of its rally. July silver SIN11 -1.56% declined 25 cents, or 0.7%, to $37.34 an ounce.
“We still believe that the latest overheating of silver prices has not been reduced completely and the slump in price will continue,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients Thursday.
Gold is more stable, and on Thursday the market was reacting to news China boosted its first-quarter gold production by 4.6% year-on-year, the analysts said.
China still has to import “huge quantities” of the precious metal, and the higher gold production is being met by rising demand in China. Rising production won’t be “an obstacle for a further rise of the gold price,” the analysts said.
Earlier Thursday, investors had to contend with news the U.S. economy expanded 1.8% in the first quarter as forecast, according to the Commerce Department. Economists had expected gross domestic product growth to be revised to 2.2%.
