BLBG: Gold Falls Every Day This Week as Prior Gains Spur Scrap Sales
Gold fell for five days in London, its worst losing streak since September, on concern a surge last week to the highest in 11 months spurred sales of jewelry for scrap, outpacing demand from investors.
Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest such fund backed by bullion, rose to a record 1,029.29 metric tons yesterday after holding steady since Feb. 19. The gold price is set for a first weekly decline in three weeks and the steepest drop in almost three months. It is still up 1.5 percent this month.
“Scrap flooding the market still far outweighs” buying by funds, Standard Bank Ltd. analyst Walter de Wet wrote in a note in Johannesburg. Though “scrap flows have slowed somewhat.”
Gold for immediate delivery lost $2.60, or 0.3 percent, to $943.60 an ounce by 9:50 a.m. in London. That’s 6.4 percent below the 11-month high of $1,006.29. April futures rose $2.50 to $945.10 an ounce in electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Total gold supply rose 49 tons to 908 tons in the fourth quarter partly on scrap supply, the World Gold Council said last week. The metal averaged $799.91 an ounce in the three months.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. yesterday raised its 2009 forecast for gold 4 percent to $911 an ounce to reflect higher investment demand. The forecast for next year was raised 4 percent to $951.
Among other metals for immediate delivery in London, silver fell 0.2 percent to $13.10 an ounce. Platinum added $4.75, or 0.5 percent, to $1,057.75 an ounce and palladium slid 50 cents to $197 an ounce.
Goldman raised its 2009 platinum forecast 26 percent to $1,050. “The platinum surplus is likely to be substantially smaller than we had previously expected” on stronger investment demand and production cuts, the bank said in a report.