Metal looks for direction after two days of losses
By Claudia Assis and Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures looked for direction Thursday, getting some support from a slightly weaker dollar but pressured by bearish sentiment following two days of losses.
Gold for April delivery GCJ2 +0.09% retreated 30 cents to trade at at $1,657.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Stock Exchange, after spending most of the Asian and European trading hours in the red but recouping some losses in early floor trading.
The metal notched a 1.6% loss earlier in the New York session pressured by a higher dollar and as traders were disappointed gold had failed to trade above $1,700 an ounce.
The June contract GCM2 +0.10% , which has the most open interest, declined $1 to $1,659.60 an ounce.
The dollar index, which compares the U.S. unit to a basket of six currencies, traded at 79.218, compared with 79.253 in North American trade late Wednesday.
Gold-backed exchange-traded funds did not see “significant outflows” in recent days, and short-term money managers taking profits “are likely to have been mainly responsible for the price slide,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients.
The largest ETF backed by gold, SPDR Gold Trust DXY +0.11% , ended Wednesday with 1,286.62 metric tons, the same as Tuesday. Holdings in the fund had jumped six metric tons to end Monday with 1,288.73 metric tons.
“Gold’s continued high correlation with equities and commodities also played an important role,” they added. Commodities were mostly lower on Wednesday, including a 1.8% slide for oil.
Among the broader metals suite, copper for May delivery HGK2 -0.16% advanced less than 1 cent to $3.80 a pound.
May silver SIK2 +0.36% added 15 cents, or 0.5%, to $31.99.
Palladium for June delivery PAM2 +0.18% added $4.70, or 0.7%, to $652.05 an ounce.
The metal on Wednesday settled at its lowest since January. Palladium is the only metal to post losses for the year and for the month, down 8% in March and 0.9% so far this year, according to FactSet Research.
April platinum PLJ2 +0.20% gained $4.30, or 0.3%, to $1,639.50 an ounce.
