LONDON: Gold slipped more than one percent in Europe on Wednesday, extending the last session’s decline, as a firmer tone to equities and the euro showed the risk aversion that pushed bullion to a three-month high was ebbing.
Spot gold was quoted at $889.90/891.90 an ounce at 1047 GMT, down from $897.35 late on Tuesday. Earlier it fell to a low of $882.40 after pushing through technical resistance just above $890.
Among other precious metals, silver prices were little changed at $12.04/12.11 an ounce from $12.01. Platinum and palladium were also steady, having lost well over half their value from the highs of early last year on fears over falling demand from carmakers. Spot platinum was at $942/950 an ounce against $945, while spot palladium was at $187/192 from $188.50.
Copper steady: Copper was steady on Wednesday after two days of large price swings, while the weaker dollar supported prices despite concerns about rising inventories and falling demand.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose to $3,339 a tonne in official rings from its close of $3,310 a tonne on Tuesday, when prices tumbled more than nine percent.
Copper inventories on the LME rose 3,125 tonnes to 454,925 tonnes, the highest level since December 2003, while aluminium stocks grew 12,500 tonnes to a record 2.73 million tonnes.
Three-month aluminium was at $1,366 a tonne from $1,340.
Elsewhere, nickel rose to $11,750 a tonne from $11,400, lead was at $1,155 from $1,145, zinc fell to $1,140 from Tuesday’s last quote of $1,145.
Tin was unchanged at $11,500 despite news on that Indonesia’s PT Timah Tbk, the world’s largest integrated tin miner delaying some projects this year as demand has fallen. reuters
