Gold tiptoes lower, with Bernanke on deck Gold futures took a step back Wednesday from their three-week-high settlement in the previous session, although the moves were small ahead of a key testimony from the Federal Reserve chairman. Gold for August delivery GCQ3 -0.36% retreated $1.30, or 0.1%, to $1,289.10 an ounce, after gaining $6.90 during Tuesday’s trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange’ Comex division. The minor loss came amid a similarly small advance for U.S. dollar, with the ICE dollar index DXY +0.23% inching up to 82.617 from 82.599 late Tuesday. A higher U.S. currency makes gold, which is denominated in dollars on most major markets, more expensive to holders of other currencies. But attention appeared firmly focused on the congressional testimony from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, slated for later Wednesday and Thursday. VTB Capital analysts Andrey Kryuchenkov said most market participants believed the Fed would slow its stimulus this year and end it sometime next year, although “the timing that still remains uncertain, and this will continue to fuel jittery and nervous gold trading.” “For now, serious buyers are likely to be absent, given recent volatility and the ongoing uncertainty over the Fed’s [quantitative easing] tapering,” he wrote. Sentiment toward gold would also likely be “constantly undermined by better than expected U.S. economic releases, with rising U.S. yields limiting bullion’s upside potential when seasonal demand recovers into the early” fourth quarter, Kryuchenkov wrote. In terms of economic releases for Wednesday, the U.S. was due to receive June housing-start numbers and the Fed’s “Beige Book” report on economic growth. Elsewhere, the Bank of England was slated to issue it policy-meeting minutes, and the Bank of Canada was scheduled to issue a policy decision. In other Wednesday metals-futures trade, September silver SIU3 -0.68% pulled back by 6 cents, or 0.3%, to $19.88 an ounce, while September copper HGU3 -1.29% added a penny, or 0.2%, to $3.19 a pound. Platinum for October delivery PLV3 -0.46% rose by a dollar, or about 0.1%, to $1,426.10 an ounce, but September futures for sister-metal palladium PAU3 -0.66% went the other way, losing $2.10, or 0.3%, to $733.50 an ounce.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 07:39:25 +0000
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