Gold and silver continued to move lower Friday morning, as the latest report on consumer price inflation came in about as expected, and markets appeared a bit more cautious ahead of a scheduled vote on Greece’s austerity and bailout package by eurozone finance ministers Monday. Having risen overnight in Asia-Pacific trading, spot gold was 0.16% lower at 10:50 a.m., bid at $1,726 per ounce with an ask price of $1,727. Spot gold traded as high as $1,737.10 and as low as $1,720.40. The London morning fixed reference price came in at $1,732, $16 per ounce higher than Thursday’s afternoon price fix, according to Kitco market data. Spot silver was showing a 0.27% loss, bid at $33.43 with an ask price of $33.53. The morning high as of time of writing was $33.80 and the low was $33.23. Friday’s reference price was set at $33.48 in the London a.m., 30 cents an ounce above Thursday’s reference price fix. CPI-U, the consumer price index for all urban consumers, increased at a seasonally adjusted 0.2% monthly in January, 0.1% below market expectations. Core CPI — excluding food and energy — rose 0.2% as well, 0.1% above consensus expectations. Consumer prices rose 2.9% in the previous 12 months on a raw, unadjusted basis. Marking three consecutive months of gains, the Conference Board’s report on Leading Economic Indicators added some further shine to the positive market tone, increasing 0.4% in January on a monthly basis, in line with market expectations. LEI increased 0.5% in December, and 0.3% in November. Gold bullion was hovering around $1,730 per ounce in London morning trading Friday, as market participants are focused on the eurozone finance minister vote Monday, BullionVault reported in its daily London Gold Market report. Gold was up less than 0.5% heading into the weekend in a relatively quiet session, though German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s reported call to allow Greece to default was strongly rebuffed by Premier Angela Merkel.

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