Gold price struck its lowest in two weeks on Thursday as traders take profit on price consolidation from early month gains.
Profit-taking, together with an outlook for further rate rise by the US Federal Reserve in the mid term drove prices to a session low of $1,251.60 on Thursday.
Spot gold last traded at $1,260.50, just about 60 cents lower than where it ended yesterday. The rout did not spare the others in the complex as well. Silver fell a dollar to end at $16.99, while current prices slipped another 10 cents to $16.89 per ounce.
“Gold’s selling pressure eased after it found support near the 200-day moving average of $1,253 per ounce. A potential break below this threshold may invite further selling by momentum investors, in our view,” said analyst James Steel from HSBC Securities.
The lower US jobless claims data was the catalyst for heavy liquidation – US weekly unemployment claims were better than expected at 265,000.
US stocks soared higher overnight after Wednesday’s late sell off following the upbeat economic commentary from the FOMC meeting, better-than-expected corporate earnings and fall in jobless claims.
“Although the US Federal Reserve stressed after its meeting yesterday that it could be patient as far as normalizing monetary policy is concerned, its appraisal of the economic situation and the labour market was revised slightly upwards in the accompanying statement,” said a report from Commerzbank.
The Dow surged 226 points or 1.3 percent, the S&P 500 rallied 0.94 percent and the Nasdaq added close to a percent.
For the day ahead, markets are expected to focus on the GDP and flash CPI numbers from the EU and US.
In the PGMs, platinum and palladium both followed gold lower – platinum fell another $3.50 this morning to $1,222 per ounce and palladium dropped $1.50 to last trade at $773 per ounce.
The post Gold price fell to lowest in 2-weeks as profit-taking hits appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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