BLBG:Gold Falls to One-Week Low as Global Physical Demand Ebbs
Gold futures fell to a one-week low after a report showed that global demand ebbed in the third quarter. Platinum dropped after a two-month strike at South Africa’s top producer ended.
The World Gold Council said in a report today that global demand declined 11 percent from a record a year earlier as slowing growth in China, the world’s second-biggest consumer, cut investment and jewelry purchases. Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS), based in Johannesburg, said an accord on pay ended labor walkouts.
“The combination of the Anglo miners going back to work and the World Gold Council report showing gold demand falling is pressuring precious metals,” David Meger, the director of metal trading at Vision Financial Markets in Chicago, said in a telephone interview.
Gold futures for December delivery retreated 0.9 percent to settle at $1,713.80 an ounce at 1:45 p.m. on the Comex, the biggest drop since Nov. 2. Earlier, the price touched $1,704.50, the lowest for a most-active contract since Nov. 7.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, platinum futures for January delivery fell 1.1 percent to $1,573.30 an ounce, the biggest decline since Nov. 7.
Silver futures for December delivery slid 0.6 percent to $32.674 an ounce on the Comex.
Palladium futures for December delivery slumped 1.6 percent to $631.20 an ounce on the Nymex, the largest drop since Nov. 2.
To contact the reporters on this story: Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net; Maria Kolesnikova in London at mkolesnikova@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
