BLBG:Gold Drops for Third Day as Dollar’s Strength Curbs ETP Holdings
Gold fell for a third day in New York as strength in the dollar may mean more declines in exchange-traded products holdings.
Holdings in gold-backed ETPs dropped 0.6 percent on May 10 as the dollar reached a five-week high against six major currencies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The U.S. Dollar Index climbed as much as 0.2 percent today as the Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities fell 0.6 percent.
“Commodities in general have been hurt by the dollar’s recent strength,” said Sun Yonggang, a macroeconomic strategist at Everbright Futures Co., a unit of one of China’s largest state-owned investment companies. “Investors are losing interest in gold.”
Gold for June delivery dropped 0.6 percent to $1,428.10 an ounce by 6:11 a.m. on Comex in New York. Prices dropped 1.9 percent last week, the first decline in three weeks.
Gold is having its worst start to a year since 1982 after dropping 15 percent and sliding into a bear market in April. Speculators held 67,374 so-called short contracts on May 7, 6.4 percent more than a week earlier, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The net-long position dropped 10 percent to 49,260 futures and options.
Silver for July delivery declined 0.3 percent to $23.59 an ounce, platinum was little changed at $1,486.20 an ounce, and palladium fell 0.1 percent to $704.95 an ounce.
To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim at gsim4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
