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Precious metals remained in negative territory Monday afternoon as the U.S. dollar held firm against a composite of the world’s most traded currencies.
COMEX gold futures for December delivery settled lower by $13.40, or 0.8%, at $1,764.60 per ounce, but came off their intra-day low of $1,757.90 reached this morning. The December silver futures contract finished down by $0.65, or 1.9%, at $33.98 per ounce at the COMEX after earlier falling to $33.66.
Renewed sovereign debt worries in Europe contributed to broad-based weakness in the financial markets, as commodities and stocks each headed south. In the currency markets, the euro slid 0.4% to 1.2929 against the dollar.
George Gero, a precious metals strategist with RBC Wealth Management, noted in a report to clients that the price of gold “is an economic and political barometer and the EU banking discord and slow economic recovery have brought more dollar buyers to the table.”
As for the shares of precious metals companies, the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) tumbled as much as 3.2% to 188.88 earlier today. In afternoon trading, the sector pared its losses but the XAU remained down by 2.6% at 190.05.
Notable XAU components in the red on Monday included Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE), Goldcorp (GG), and Silver Wheaton (SLW). CDE fell by 3.2% to $28.13, GG by 3.3% to $45.37, and SLW by 3.4% to $38.56 per share.
2012-09-25 07:38:42
Source: http://www.goldalert.com/2012/09/precious-metals-languish-xau-drops-2-6/