The gold price sunk to a one-week low amid a host of optimistic data releases from China and US, which lifted equities and buoyed the dollar.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange declined $21.0 or 1.7 percent to $1,227.30 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,225.80 to $1,245.90.
Comex copper for May settlement edged up 0.30 cents or 0.1 percent to $2.1710 per pound. The contract has now traded in positive territory for the third consecutive session after 10 straight days of losses.
“Gold is looking like it has run out of steam and may continue lower,” Heraeus Group said while stating that recent US and Chinese data was lifting the dollar.
Earlier in the week, gold reached a three-week high amid a six-month low for the dollar, but the greenback has bounced-back in recent days and was last trading at $1.1275 against the euro – the highest point since the end of March.
Markets were initially rattled after the International Monetary Fund cuts its global growth forecast to 3.2 percent from 3.4 percent, but better-than-expected Chinese data improved overall sentiment and demonstrated that loose monetary policies were beginning to ease fears of an economic hard-landing.
Tomorrow’s Chinese first-quarter GDP growth and industrial production data is key for investors, especially after Beijing reaffirmed its 6.5-7 percent target at the beginning of the year.
Still, gold physical demand is lacking, particularly in India and China – the world’s two largest gold end-users. In India, a six week jewellers strike over an excise duty on gold imports suppressed demand, but gold dealers began to reopen their shops on Monday.
“Softness in the physical market can broadly be explained by seasonality and price elasticity of buyers and scrap sellers,” Joni Teves, a strategist at UBS, said. “However, there is some validity to concerns on the back of slower growth expectations and currency depreciation across emerging market economies where gold physical demand tends to come from.”
In US data, CPI month-over-month in March gained 0.1 percent, below the 0.2 percent forecast. Additionally, CORE CPI – excluding energy and food prices – over the same period experienced a 0.1 percent uptick, also missing the 0.2 percent estimate.
Unemployment claims between April 1-8 came in at 253,000, besting the economic consensus of 270,000 and importantly under the psychological 300,000 mark.
Meanwhile in US markets, the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P were up 1.1 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.
As for other precious metals, Comex silver for May settlement fell 12.5 cents or 0.8 percent to $16.200 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $15.925 to $16.270.
Platinum for July delivery slipped $10.0 or one percent to $993.0 per ounce, while the most-actively traded palladium contract stood at $559.70 per ounce, up $17.05 or 3.1 percent.
The post Gold tumbles, copper solidifies after latest rally appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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Source: Bullion Desk News
