Gold ended lower Friday for a fourth straight day, its sixth loss in seven sessions, and closed at its lowest price in three months. From a week ago, prices tumbled 3.2%.
On Friday, gold for December delivery fell $28.70, or 2.2%, to settle at $1,268.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement price was the lowest since July 10.
Gold suffered through the week with investors turning to equities and the U.S. dollar as the government shutdown and the debt-ceiling deadline failed to elicit safe-haven buying. Gold’s drop on Thursday to below $1,300 an ounce also affected demand, according to analysts.
“There’s just a psychology around large round numbers,” Scott Carter, CEO at precious metals retailer Lear Capital, told MarketWatch. “People look at that level and say, ‘Oh, what’s happening?’”
MarketWatch further relayed that “Carter argued the past week’s developments should be “long-term bullish” for gold and silver. He sees hard assets eventually getting a lift from the U.S adding to its debt and Janet Yellen leading the Federal Reserve.”
For the year-to-date, gold futures are off $407.60, or 24.3%, from their 2012 closing price of $1,675.80 an ounce.
Gold Forecasts
Last week, leading gold surveys tilted bullish. New surveys weigh bearish with short-term safe-haven bets sliced on expectations a deal is in the works to raise the U.S. debt limit.
Friday’s survey from Kitco News has 18 participants expecting lower gold prices next week, 4 seeing them higher and 4 expecting prices to move sideways or unchanged.
“Survey participants who see weaker prices said there’s very little to support gold in the short term,” noted Kitco News. “Those who are neutral on prices said they are standing to the sidelines until something is resolved over the debt ceiling deadline and U.S. government shutdown… The few analysts who see higher prices said gold prices are oversold and they expect bargain hunters to come back in.”
Bloomberg News reports similar results from analysts it surveyed. By the numbers, 15 surveyed expect lower gold prices next week with 8 bullish and 4 neutral. It noted that the results showed the highest proportion of bears since Sept. 13.
Read the full article at Coin News
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