By Laura Mandaro and Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO(MarketWatch) — Gold futures held losses Thursday, side-stepping a rebound in stocks and industrial commodities after a surprise China rate cut, as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony.
Gold futures for delivery in August GCQ2 -2.96% were down $7.20, or 0.4%, to $1,627 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copper futures, however, shot higher after China’s central bank said it would lower its benchmark lending and deposit rates by one-quarter percentage point, effective Friday. Copper for July delivery HGN2 -0.16% was up 4 cents, or 1%, to $3.41 a pound.
Oil futures CLN2 -0.47% also jumped after the China rate cut and U.S. stocks opened sharply higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.68% up 129.46 points, or 1%, to 12,544.25.
Now investors are waiting for Bernanke’s testimony at 10 a.m. Eastern. The possibility of future policy easing from the European Central Bank and the U.S. Fed, along with a weaker dollar, helped send the metal 1.1% higher in the North American session on Wednesday.
Stimulus hopes were further stirred in the U.S. as vice-chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, indicated in a speech late Wednesday that the door was open for more monetary-policy easing, should economic conditions worsen. Read more on comments from Fed’s Yellen.
Policy easing tends to encourage investment in gold, as it raises inflationary pressures and in the case of extraordinary moves by the Fed, weighs on the value of the U.S. dollar -- one of the main alternatives to gold.
The broader metals complex followed gold lower in electronic trading.
July silver futures SIN2 -3.59% pared losses, recently trading off 3 cents at $29.46 an ounce.
Platinum PLN2 -1.87% for July delivery lost $5.70, or 0.4%, to $1,463.50 an ounce, while palladium futures for September delivery declined $2.50, or 0.4%, to $630.30 an ounce.
Laura Mandaro is a MarketWatch editor, based in San Francisco.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
