Gold futures closed lower Wednesday, but the precious metal finished above a psychological significantly level, after steeper losses dragged it below $1,800, a price that the contract has struggled to hold above since November.
The decline for the yellow metal came amid some weakness in the U.S. dollar and a rise in longer dated Treasury yields.
February gold
GCG22,
-0.29%
GC00,
-0.29%
was trading $5.10, or 0.3%, lower to end at $1,805.80 an ounce, and had fallen to an intraday low at $1,789.10, following a 0.1% gain on Tuesday with bullion then touching an intraday peak at $1,821.60 before gains faded.
Raffi, Boyadjian, lead investment analyst at brokerage XM, in a daily note. said “the latest attempt to convincingly break above $1,800 didn’t end well, as the precious metal has now pulled back towards this key level after briefly brushing $1,820/oz yesterday.”
Gold futures have been trading in a relatively tight range over the past month as concerns about the omicron variant of the coronavirus and uncertainty around the effectiveness of policies to combat inflation have buffeted markets.
Meanwhile, silver futures for March delivery
SIH22,
-1.13%
shed 26.3 cents, or 1.1%, to end at $22.858 an ounce, following a 0.9% decline in the previous session. Silver has declined over 13% in the year to date.
Copper for March delivery
HGH22,
-0.51%
gave up 2 cents, or about 0.6%, to settle at $4.413 a pound, after a 0.9% drop on Tuesday. Copper futures based on the continuous contract were headed for a 25% year-to-date gain.
January platinum
PLF22,
-1.03%
was trading $10.90, or 1.1%, lower to settle at 968.50 an ounce, following a similar gain on Tuesday. The most-active April platinum contract shed $9.80, or 1%, to settle at $970 an ounce, after a 0.9% gain a day ago. Platinum is looking at a 10% decline in 2021 thus far.
Palladium for March delivery
PAH22,
-0.85%
was trading $13.60, or 0.7%, to end at $1.987 an ounce, after a 2.8% gain on Tuesday. The precious metal, however, is down over 19% for the year so far.
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