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Gold and Silver Prices Down in Early Trading

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Gold and silver prices have slipped in early trading today as momentum fueled by Bernanke’s comments earlier this week has faded.

At last check, spot gold was trading 0.19% lower at $1,676.81 an ounce. Pradeep Unni, analyst at Richcomm Global Services, told Reuters that the Fed comments have given much-needed stimulus to an otherwise lackluster, rangebound gold market. Unni said that resistance at $1,694-$1,700 is formidable, but in the coming sessions, we could see that being scythed very convincingly. Unni believes that dollar weakness is likely to be the catalyst for such a move.


Demand for physical gold has come under pressure this week due to an ongoing strike among jewelers in India, the world’s largest consumer of gold. Jewelers in India are protesting against a hike in import duty for gold. The hike was announced in the recent budget. India’s finance minister today said that the country wont slash import duty on gold.

In a research note, HSBC today said that the removal of the excise tax may be a step towards meeting some of the grievances listed by Indian jewelers in the wake of the government budget. HSBC said that until the Indian jewelers reopen their shops, Indian gold demand will remain weak.

Silver prices have also retreated today. At last check, spot silver was trading 0.22% lower at $32.43 an ounce.

In pre-market trading in New York, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) is down 0.76% to $31.59, the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) is down 1.38% to $54.48, and the ProShares UltraShort Silver (ETF) (NYSE: ZSL) is up 1.25% to $10.57.

 

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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