BLBG:Asian Currencies Fall, Led by Ringgit, as Growth Concern Curbs Risk Taking
Gold declined for a second day in London as some investors sold the metal to cover losses in other commodities markets and equities.
Crude oil declined for a second day in New York before reports that may show slowing economic growth in the U.S. and China, while tin led industrial metals lower on the London Metal Exchange. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities touched the lowest level in more than two months. European leaders are struggling to find common ground on a Greek bailout.
“Weaker commodities and equity sentiment” is pressuring precious metals, James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London, said today in a report. Still, “the mix of safe- haven diversification and negative real-interest rates continue to create a positive price environment for gold longer-term. We expect dips to still be viewed as buying opportunities.”
Immediate-delivery gold fell $6.80, 0.4 percent, to $1,524.85 an ounce by 10:13 a.m. in London. Gold for August delivery retreated 0.2 percent to $1,525.70 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble are at odds over investors’ role in the second Greek rescue in 14 months. Unless a deal can be struck to guarantee Greece’s financing needs for the next 12 months, the International Monetary Fund has threatened to withhold its share of what remains of Greece’s original 110 billion-euro ($158 billion) bailout.
‘Catastrophe’ Warning
Euro-area finance ministers have called a special meeting tomorrow as they try to avoid what European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn called a “Lehman Brothers catastrophe on European soil.”
Gold is up 7.3 percent in 2011 after climbing the past 10 years, the longest run of gains in at least nine decades. Europe’s debt crisis helped bullion reach a record $1,577.57 on May 2. The metal fell for the first week in four last week.
“Momentum has certainly taken a step back in the wake of gold’s failure to overcome $1,550 last week,” Edel Tully, a London-based analyst at UBS AG, said today in a report. Still, sales to India on June 10 were above average as “opportunistic physical buying emerged.”
Silver for immediate delivery fell 1.9 percent to $35.48 an ounce in London. Palladium declined 1.2 percent to $803 an ounce. Platinum was down 0.8 percent at $1,814.45 an ounce.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net; Kyoungwha Kim in Singapore at kkim19@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
