By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Gold futures edged lower Wednesday as investors weighed a fresh batch of Chinese economic data that largely opened the door for officials there to engage in further monetary-policy easing.
Futures for December gold GCZ2 -0.18% fell 50 cents to $1,615.40 an ounce during European trading hours. The yellow metal had risen $3.20 an ounce Wednesday to settle at $1,616, helped by upbeat U.S. productivity numbers and expectations for more U.S. stimulus.
If the Federal Reserve introduces more quantitative easing, the case for gold as an alternative to currencies debased as a result of such moves gets stronger, according to analysts.
China data added to the country’s own case for more monetary easing Thursday, showing a fall in price pressures but weaker industrial consumption and retail sales. See: China data point to slowdown, need for easing.
The dollar rose in spite of expectations of more Beijing easing, which reduce its attraction as a safe-haven investment. A stronger dollar tends to weigh on dollar-denominated commodities, because it makes them more expensive to holders of other currencies. Read: Dollar up, euro struggles to maintain momentum.
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The euro EURUSD -0.4891% fell to $1.2307 from $1.2359 late Tuesday. The dollar index DXY +0.32% , which measures the currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose to 82.543 from 82.366 late in the prior day.
A stronger dollar tends to weigh on dollar-denominated commodities, because it makes them more expensive to holders of other currencies.
Among other metals, September copper HGU2 -0.42% fell 1 cent, or 0.4%, to $3.41 a pound.
Silver for the same month’s delivery SIU2 -0.64% eased 19 cents, or 0.8%, to $27.89 an ounce.
Sister metals platinum and palladium bucked the weaker trend for precious and base metals. October platinum PLV2 +0.09% rose $2.70 to $1,412.90 an ounce, and September palladium PAU2 +0.09% added 5 cents to $586.55 an ounce.
Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid.
