MW: Gold futures slump as euro rises on Spanish auction
By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures fell on Thursday as the euro gained ground following another successful auction of government debt in Spain.
Gold for August delivery dropped $2.80, or 0.2%, to $1,243.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The euro rose to $1.2385 in recent action, up from $1.2247 in North American trading late Wednesday.
Much of gold's gains since the start of the year came as the European debt crisis reduced confidence in currencies and boosted demand for gold's safe haven.
Gold stayed lower after the U.S. Labor Department said weekly jobless claims rose by 15,000 to 472,000.
In the second quarter, gold jumped 12%, its seventh consecutive quarterly gain. It rose 1.7% in the first quarter of 2010.
"Technically and from a momentum perspective, gold's trend remains up," says Mark O'Byrne, metals analyst at GoldCore, in a note. "Yet gold is climbing a classic wall of worry in typical bull market fashion with skepticism and 'gold bubble' talk remaining high."
