Gold and silver retreat as dollar gains upper hand
New York (Feb 4) - Gold and silver slipped on Thursday as the
dollar and U.S. Treasury yields gained and markets awaited
clarity on U.S. fiscal stimulus measures.
Spot gold dropped 0.9% to $1,818.00 an ounce by 1307
GMT after touching a two-month low. U.S. gold futures
fell 1% to $1,817.20.
Silver, meanwhile, slipped 1.2% to $26.54.
"This flight into silver by some retail investors has been
an excessive move to the upside, which is now corrected to
normal fundamental-supported levels," said Quantitative
Commodity Research analyst Peter Fertig.
Silver prices have declined more than 12% since a
GameStop-style retail frenzy sent them to their highest in
nearly eight years at $30.03 on Monday.
Gold is also under pressure from the technical side," said
Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann. "It dropped below the
200-day moving average, which triggered technical follow-up
selling. If it goes below the $1,800 mark ... we might see gold
lower in the short-term."
U.S. yields and a firmer dollar also pressured precious
metals.Making bullion more expensive for those holding other
currencies, the dollar scaled a two-month peak, while
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were at a more than three-week
high.
Gold is considered a hedge against inflation from large
stimulus measures, but higher yields challenge that status
because they increase the opportunity cost of holding
non-yielding bullion.
Investors also focused on a $1.9 trillion U.S. coronavirus
aid plan passed by the U.S. House without Republican support.
"The biggest risk to gold is stronger recovery as vaccines
roll out, to the extent that we see U.S. bond yields rally,"
said Lachlan Shaw, National Australia Bank's head of commodity
research.
However prices could remain supported if the rollout faces
uncertainty because of emerging virus variants, he added.
In other precious metals, platinum fell 1.3% to
$1,087.22 an ounce and palladium lost 0.3% to $2,267.99.
Reuters
