Gold erases year-to-date gains, with analysts anticipating further downside

Chicago (Oct 5)  Front month West Texas crude futures ended the Friday session sharply lower, falling 1.43% to trade at $89.71 per barrel in NYMEX trading.

 That followed the release of the latest US non-farm payrolls data and the strengthening in the US dollar which resulted from the same. Acting as a backdrop, last week Saudi Arabia moved to cut prices on its own exports despite the recovery in Libyan oil supplies and OPEC output at one-year highs.

 What traders read into the above mix of news is that the Middle Eastern kingdom is intent on defending its market share, above other considerations.

 On the other hand, three-month copper futures on the LME rose by 0.62% to $6,642 per metric tonne.

 Another victim of the dollar's resurgence were gold futures, with the contract for December delivery on COMEX losing 1.83% to $1,192 per ounce. On Thursday Goldman Sachs stuck to its forecast for the price of the "yellow metal" to fall to $1,050 per ounce over the coming twelve months.

Source:  ShareCast