By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Gold prices extended their decline in electronic trading during Asian hours Thursday amid a weakened growth outlook for Europe and China that dulled the precious metal’s appeal as a hedge against inflation.
February gold futures GC2G +0.04% on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $4.10, or 0.3%, to $1,609.50 an ounce.
“We still see easing momentum for gold at the end of the month with small chance of physical buyers or longer-term investors returning before [the first quarter of 2012]. In the next few sessions, we expect to see some more volatility in thin pre-holiday trading,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, a metals analyst at VTB Capital.
Gold ended lower on Wednesday for the sixth time in eight sessions. The metal is down more than 8% so far this month.
Among other metals, March futures for silver SI2H +0.40% fell 0.5% to $29.11 an ounce, and those for palladium PA2H -0.73% dropped 0.9% to $628.70 an ounce.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
