BL: GOLD PRICE DROPS OFF EARLIER 13-MTH HIGH, SENTIMENT WEAKENS
The gold price was under pressure on Friday after its early-morning rally ran out of steam following a dip in the euro.
- Spot gold was last down $6.50 at $1,264.30/1,264.70 per ounce, down considerably from its earlier session high of $1,282.90 – a fresh 13-month peak. Silver at $15.56/15.58 per ounce was little changed, platinum at $974/979 was down $1 and off the $1,000 level it hit earlier this week while palladium at $568/573 was $1 higher.
- Gold had surged on comments from the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday – it stated there would be no more interest-rate cuts.
- The euro surged to 1.1209 against the dollar on this news – investors hoped that no further cuts would stabilise the euro in the long term. But it has failed to hold onto those gains and last traded at 1.1101, amid talk that markets had over-reacted.
- Still, not all participants are satisfied with the recent ECB measures and believe that further loosening is on the cards later this year.
- “It may well raise the volume of its monthly bond purchases once again or extend its purchasing programme to beyond March 2017. This should benefit gold,” Commerzbank said.