BLBG:Gold Climbs in New York Trading as Investors Await U.S. Reports
Gold gained for the first time in four days in New York as investors weighed the Federal Reserve’s stimulus plans before reports forecast to show the U.S. economy is improving.
Futures lost 23 percent since the start of April, heading for a record quarterly loss, after the Fed said last week the central bank may slow asset purchases if the economy continues to improve. Reports due today may show jobless claims fell and personal incomes and spending rose, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. New York Fed President William C. Dudley and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart are both speaking today. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday that he expects “a couple more years of sluggish growth.”
“Gold very much depends on the U.S. data in the near term,” said Georgette Boele, a commodities strategist at ABN Amro Group NV in Amsterdam. “If the data comes better than expected, the pressure will increase on gold.”
Gold for August delivery rose 0.2 percent to $1,232.40 an ounce by 8:14 a.m. on the Comex in New York after gaining as much as 1.2 percent earlier. It plunged to as low as $1,221 an ounce yesterday, the lowest since Aug. 24, 2010. Bullion for immediate delivery advanced 0.5 percent to $1,232.91 an ounce in London after gaining as much as 1.5 percent earlier, the most since June 3.
Futures’ 14-day relative strength index was at 22.9, below the level of 30 that indicates to some analysts who study charts that a rebound may be imminent. Futures trading volumes were 29 percent higher than the average for the past 100 days for this time of day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Short-Covering
Prices gained earlier today on “short-covering” as some investors closed bets on falling prices, David Govett, head of precious metals at Marex Spectron, said in a report.
Gold prices are heading for the third three-month decline, the worst run since 2001, and are set to halt a 12-year winning streak as investors lose faith in the metal as a protection of wealth amid record outflows from ETPs. Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest bullion-backed ETP, were unchanged yesterday after declining to the least since February 2009 on June 25. Holdings have shrunk 21 percent this quarter, the biggest slide since the fund was introduced in 2004.
Silver Gains
Silver for September delivery rose 0.6 percent to $18.72 an ounce in New York. Silver, the worst-performer on the Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of commodities this year, plunged to as low as $18.455 earlier, the lowest level since August 2010, and has retreated 38 percent this year. This quarter, it’s declined 33 percent, heading for the biggest quarterly loss since 1980.
Platinum for October delivery gained 1.3 percent to $1,324.90 an ounce, paring a decline this quarter to 17 percent. That’s still the worst performance since the three months to September 2008, when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed.
Palladium for September delivery rose 1.3 percent to $641.65 an ounce. Prices have lost 18 percent since the start of April, the most since the three months to September 2011.
To contact the reporters on this story: Maria Kolesnikova in London at mkolesnikova@bloomberg.net; Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
