By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY(MarketWatch) — Gold futures traded little changed in electronic trading Thursday, while silver and copper moved lower.
Gold for April delivery GC2J +0.10% traded at $1,749.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
The metal had notched its second straight day of gains Wednesday in New York floor trading, supported by a weaker dollar and improved investor sentiment. See report on Wednesday’s gold action.
Gold prices have climbed more than 11% this year, according to Factset data.
“Prices have risen sharply over the past month, and investors may take profits and gold could consolidate short-term,” James Steel, commodities analyst at HSBC Securities, said in a research note.
“That said, we expect any such pullback to be short-lived and the rally should resume quickly,” he said.
The wider metals complex diverged in electronic trading.
Platinum for April PL2J +0.10% added 30 cents to $1,623.50 an ounce, while March palladium PA2H +0.18% gained 45 cents, or 0.1%, to $697.15 an ounce.
But copper and silver headed lower.
March copper HG2H -0.25% dropped 2 cents, or 0.6%, to $3.82 a pound.
Silver for March delivery SI2H -0.17% lost 18 cents, or 0.5%, to $33.63 an ounce.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
