By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fell in electronic trading Friday, extending previous session losses as hopes of immediate stimulus from the U.S. diminished, dulling demand for the metal.
Gold futures for delivery in August GCQ2 -0.74% lost $17.70, or 1.1%, to $1,570.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
The metal slumped 2.8% in Thursday’s North American session after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a testimony to Congress failed to signal that more monetary policy easing measures were on the way.
Bernanke said the central bank was willing to act should Europe’s debt crisis worsen, but offered no hint of what the central bank might do at its next policy meeting.
The broader metals complex tracked gold lower during Asian trading, with copper the leading decliner. Copper for July delivery HGN2 -1.72% dropped 4 cents, or 1.3%, to $3.33 a pound.
July silver futures SIN2 -.00% fell 31 cents, or 1.8%, to $28.22 an ounce.
The broader metals complex, meanwhile, followed gold lower. Platinum PLN2 -1.38% for July delivery lost $12.70, or 0.9%, to $1,429.70 an ounce, while palladium futures for September delivery declined $3.70, or 0.6%, to $622.05 an ounce.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
