BS: Gold Declines After Jump to Four-Month High Spurs Sales
Gold declined for the first time in four days in New York as some investors sold the metal after prices rallied to a four-month high.
Gold rallied last week as investors weighed whether the Federal Reserve will embark on a third round of quantitative easing. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will speak in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Aug. 31. Spain’s recession worsened in the second quarter, the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said today. Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded products climbed to a record yesterday.
“Given the impressive price run-up, some investors have taken the opportunity to book profits,” Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS AG in London, wrote today in a report. “We suspect that would-be longs will be more inclined to wait for any pull-back before stepping in,” she said, referring to investors betting on higher prices.
Gold for December delivery fell 0.7 percent to $1,664.40 an ounce by 7:48 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Prices reached $1,679.30 yesterday, the highest since April 12. Immediate- delivery bullion was 0.1 percent lower at $1,661.85 in London.
Holdings in bullion-backed ETPs gained 3 metric tons yesterday to a record to 2,451.6 tons, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The holdings overtook France as the world’s fourth-largest hoard when compared with national reserves on Aug. 21 and are near Italy’s assets of 2,451.8 tons, data compiled by Bloomberg and the International Monetary Fund show.
Russia expanded its gold reserves by 18.6 tons in July, the most since October, and Kazakhstan increased them for a 12th consecutive month, data on the IMF’s website showed. Turkey, Ukraine and the Kyrgyz Republic expanded bullion reserves in July and Guatemala and Mexico reduced them, the data show.
Silver for December delivery slipped 1 percent to $30.825 an ounce, after climbing to $31.315 yesterday, the highest since May 1. Platinum for October delivery dropped 1.7 percent to $1,527.30 an ounce. Palladium for December delivery was down 1.6 percent at $645.65 an ounce.
To contact the reporter for this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
