BLBG:Gold Declines in London as Haven Demand Subsides on Syria
Gold fell in London after the U.S. and Russia agreed on a plan to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons, diminishing demand for haven assets.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed Sept. 14 in Geneva on a framework for finding and destroying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s stockpiles of poison gas. Gold demand in India and China is also “quiet,” said Bernard Sin, head of currency and metal trading at bullion refiner MKS (Switzerland) SA in Geneva.
“There’s no war,” Sin said by phone today. “Physical demand is quiet.”
Gold for immediate delivery declined 0.9 percent to $1,314.70 an ounce by 12:34 p.m. in London. Futures for December delivery climbed 0.5 percent to $1,314.80 an ounce on the Comex in New York. On Sept. 13, gold in London rose 0.4 percent while Comex gold tumbled 1.7 percent.
The metal is bought in India during festivals from August to October and during the wedding season from November to December. Demand usually rebounds in China at this time as well, Sin said. “That’s been disappointing,” he said. “There’s been no fireworks.”
Silver declined 1.7 percent to $21.841 an ounce, platinum fell 0.6 percent to $1,445.35 an ounce and palladium climbed 0.8 percent to $706.05 an ounce. Palladium futures on Nymex also rose 1.1 percent, and trading was 45 percent higher than the average for the past 100 days at this time, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
