“Not Enough Physical Buying” Fuels Gold Price Sell-Off

GOLD PRICE NEWS – On Thursday the price of gold gave back yesterday’s gains as the yellow metal was unable to gain any traction in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting.  The spot gold price finished down by $10.94, or 0.7%, at $1,665.13 per ounce after briefly surpassing the $1,680 level on Wednesday afternoon.  The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), a proxy for the price of gold and the world’s largest gold ETF, closed lower by $0.99, or 0.6%, at $161.20 per share.

Silver relinquished its prior day advance alongside the gold price, as it slid by $0.60, or 1.9%, to $31.46 per ounce.  As for gold and silver stocks, they came under pressure amid a combination of weakness in precious metals and the broader equity markets.  The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) closed with a loss of 0.8% at 149.68 while the S&P 500 Index dipped by 0.3% to 1,498.11.

Among heavily-traded gold and silver stocks, notable decliners included XAU components Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), Kinross Gold (KGC), and Silver Standard Resources (SSRI).  Shares of AEM retreated by 1.8% to $45.83, KGC by 1.6% to $8.23, and SSRI by 1.1% to $12.05.

The price of gold was unable to rally despite two items that generally provide a tailwind for the yellow metal – U.S. dollar weakness and disappointing economic data.  On Thursday the U.S. Dollar Index fell to a weekly low of 79.20, while the euro currency climbed to 1.3594 against the greenback – its highest level since November of 2011.  As for the latest key U.S. economic report, weekly jobless claims rose by 38,000 to 368,000 – well above the 350,000 consensus estimate among economists.

Commenting on today’s weakness in gold prices, VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov wrote in a note to clients that “Once again (there was) not enough follow-through buying and intraday traders took profits.  We failed to breach $1,680 while the Federal Open Market Committee offered little new.”

Kryuchenkov added that “There is still not enough physical buying… and investors remain very cautious.”