MW: Gold almost completely reverses prior-day selloff
By Barbara Kollmeyer and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rebounded in electronic trade Wednesday, nearly reversing losses seen the prior day amid lingering concerns about outflows from gold exchange-traded funds.
Gold for June delivery GCM3 +1.26% jumped $17.20, or 1.2%, to $1,466.10 an ounce during U.S. premarket trading.
On Tuesday, prices for the precious metal fell $19.20, or 1.3%, as data suggested commodity exchange-traded funds in April logged a record month of withdrawals.
Outflows totaled $7.8 billion, including about $7.3 billion of net redemptions in the largest physical gold ETFs — the iShares Gold Trust IAU +1.14% and SPDR Gold Trust GLD +1.13% — according to a note from Citi Research dated Monday.
Gold investors later Wednesday may watch for comments on the market from hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson at a conference in Las Vegas. His Gold Fund lost 27% in April, according to a report on Bloomberg Tuesday, citing someone familiar with the matter. Read: As Sohn gears up, it looks like open season on Paulson and other hedge funds
Outflows from ETFs were among the factors analysts had cited as being behind a slide in gold prices last month, though reports of stronger demand for physical gold had recently helped them come off their lows.
Elsewhere Wednesday, copper for July delivery HGN3 +2.45% was up 8 cents to $3.38 a pound while silver for July delivery SIN3 +0.48% rose 13 cents, or 0.5%, to $23.92 an ounce.
July platinum PLN3 +0.95% gained $15.50, or 1%, to $1,489.90 an ounce, and June palladium PAM3 +1.48% added $10.10, or 1.5%, to trade at $690.70 an ounce.
Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid. Follow her on Twitter @MWBarbaraKollmeyer.
Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.