Gold Prices Slip, Silver Prices Also Down
Gold futures pared initial gains to turn lower during Asian trading hours on Thursday as investors remain reluctant to put money on safe haven bets amid improving global macroeconomic environment while constant outflows from gold-backed exchange traded funds is also denting sentiment in the paper gold. Silver prices also edged lower on Thursday.
In addition, Cyprus’s plan to fund part of its bailout from selling excess bullion reserves also weighed on prices. The island nation will be selling its bullion reserves to generate about 400 million euros ($523 million)
At last check, U.S. gold futures for June delivery slipped 0.10% to $1,557.20 an ounce while spot gold inched up 0.04% to $1,558.71 an ounce.
Earlier today, gold gained a bit of traction as demand for safe haven bets increased somewhat amid escalating tensions in Korean peninsula escalated while traders and jewelers in Asia also pounced on the opportunity after the metal prices fell sharply in the preceding session.
However, overall sentiment on gold is still meek as global equity markets are performing strongly and global investors are not all that bothered about Korean missiles program.
Gold prices were hammered in the previous session, shedding over 1% after the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its latest FOMC showed that some policymakers were not happy with ongoing $85 billion worth monthly bond purchase program, stoking fears that gold-supportive QE3 might be halted in a few months’ time.
Besides, unexpectedly strong trade data from China (which showed imports soared in March and the nation swung into trade deficit) also raised investors’ risk appetite, turning away from bullion market.
Silver futures edged down 0.50% to $27.52 an ounce.
In pre-market trading, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) was down 0.30%, and the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) was down 0.59%.
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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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