By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch)—Gold futures retreated in electronic trading on Friday, part of a broader selloff across commodity markets, after data revealed a sharper slowing in Chinese growth than expected.
Gold for June delivery GCM2 -0.46% lost $8.70, or 0.5%, to $1,672 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during European trading hours.
Comments from the Federal Reserve helped spur expectations of more monetary stimulus and gave the yellow metal a boost in Thursday’s session, but fortunes soured after data released Friday showed Chinese growth cooled to its slowest pace in 11 quarters. Thursday's gold session
Gross domestic product grew 8.1% in the January to March period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, missing analysts’ expectations of an 8.3% expansion. China's GDP
European stock markets were trading sharply lower across the board on Friday, led by losses for Spanish stocks after data showed bank borrowing in the country from the European Central Bank soared in March. Europe Markets
Gold and the wider metals complex also weakened in Asian trading hours, with silver leading the declines.
Silver for May delivery SIK2 -0.75% lost 26 cents, or 0.4%, to $32.27 an ounce
July platinum PLN2 -0.50% dropped $8.80, or 0.6%, to $1,597.20 an ounce, while palladium for June delivery PAM2 -0.49% shed $2.60, or 0.4%, to $650.50 an ounce.
May copper HGK2 -1.52% lost 6 cents, or 1.5%, to $3.66 a pound.
Still, strategists at Barclays Capital noted “our forecast for strengthening global growth in the second-half, particularly in Chinese growth momentum, will be bullish for copper prices, so we view second-quarter price dips as buying opportunities.”
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
