Gold Price Dips, “Market Taking a Breather”

GOLD PRICE NEWS – The price of gold turned slightly lower Friday morning, by $4.16, or 0.2%, to $1,763.65 per ounce as the yellow metal remained largely range-bound for the third consecutive day.  The spot gold price rose to $1,775 in overnight trading, but relinquished its gain as the U.S. dollar pared its losses against a composite of foreign currencies.

With today’s fractional drop, the gold price extended its weekly loss to a modest 1.0%.  In doing so, the price of gold is now on pace for its worst such stretch since the first week of August – an indication of just how strong the yellow metal has been over the past two months.

Commenting on the recent period of modest weakness in gold prices, VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov noted that “The market is taking a breather after losses from the start of the week to consolidate…Investors are very cautious; exchange-traded products are near record highs, long speculative positions are substantial.”

However, analysts at Commerzbank contended that “The ultra-loose monetary policy pursued by central banks is likely to preclude any sharper fall in (gold) prices.”

Silver continued its recent underperformance relative to the gold price, as it slid $0.23, or 0.7%, to $33.77 per ounce.  The sell-off extended silver’s weekly decline to 2.3%, its worst period since June18-22.

Weakness in the price of gold put pressure on gold stocks this morning, as the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) fell $0.27, or 0.5%, to $52.22 per share.  The move lower brought the GDX’s weekly loss to 2.7%, putting it on track for its worst week since July 9-13.

Among the most heavily-traded gold stocks, Barrick Gold (ABX) dropped by 1.0% to $39.50 per share while Goldcorp (GG) dipped 0.3% to $44.02 per share.  AngloGold Ashanti (AU) and Newmont Mining (NEM) held firm, however, rising by 0.4% to $34.50 and by 0.2% to $55.44 per share, respectively.

(See how the world’s largest gold stocks stack up against one another at GoldAlert Pro – http://pro.goldalert.com )

Equity markets across Asia and Europe were mixed on Friday, while U.S. indices turned slightly higher after two key economic reports.  The Producer Price Index (PPI), a key measure of inflation, rose 1.1% in September – surpassing the 0.7% consensus estimate among economists.  The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index came in at 83.1 – well above the 78.0 figure economists were expecting and the highest level since September 2007.