Gold price drops $0.1 to settle at $1,204; WTI drops 1.7% to $59.72

San Francisco (May 22)  Gold futures settled a dime lower today with a loss for the week. Prices saw pressure from strength in the U.S. dollar as investors parsed through comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen regarding the likelihood of an increase rate rise this year.

Gold for June delivery on Comex lost 10 cents to settle at $1,204 an ounce.

Prices for gold, based on the most-active contracts, saw a weekly fall of 1.7 percent after two consecutive weekly gains.

Yellen today said she still expects the central bank to raise rates this year, followed by gradual moves thereafter.

The prospect of higher interest rates has cast a pall over gold, which doesn’t bear any interest, analysts said. Higher interest rates can also contribute to strength in the dollar, which in turn pressures dollar-denominated gold prices.

The dollar today also strengthened versus the yen and the euro in the wake of the upbeat economic data.

In other metals trading, July silver ended at $17.051 an ounce, down 0.5 percent. Silver suffered a 2.9 percent loss on the week.

July platinum fell 0.3 percent to $1,148.60 an ounce, down 1.8 percent for the week, while June palladium tacked on 1 percent to $784 an ounce, losing 1.4 percent for the week.

July copper lost 1.3 percent to $2.811 a pound for a loss of 3.9% for the week.

In energy trading, oil futures fell today as the global glut of supplies continued to worry traders. Prices were barely higher for the week, but they still saw a 10th straight week of gains, based on the most-active contracts.

July crude fell 1.7 percent to settle at $59.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A week ago, the June contract, which was the most-active contract at the time, settled at $59.69.

Source: ProactiveInvestor