“Until the Fed rate hike, there is going to be continued concern about where is the floor for gold, whether at current levels or significantly lower”, ING Bank senior strategist Hamza Khan said. Spot platinum fell by as much as 2.o per cent to a five-week low of $US892 an ounce, marking the ninth straight session it has declined.
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“The Fed has been driving the bulk of the move down from around $1,200 to below $1,100”, said Standard Chartered analyst Paul Horsnall.
Gold ticked up after an eight-day losing streak on Monday, but languished near its lowest in three months as surging USA nonfarm payrolls boosted expectations of a December rate hike in the United States. If you want to think about gold, then you must know that gold is nearing the 5.5 year low it was in July, and is only $12 away from that low point, and it is expected to hit that 5.5 year low very soon.
Investor flows have not been encouraging for gold.
There is not a whole lot to read into in the gold market right now as the primary, and only, notable influence on the precious-metals market is [Federal Reserve] policy speculation, said analysts for The 7:00s Report. Traders are clearly anxious: on the Comex exchange in the United States $500m of gold changed hands in one minute, while financial investors have reduce their holdings in gold funds to the lowest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
“The ETF market is suggesting more pain (for gold) in coming days”, ANZ analysts said in a note. “It will be important to monitor this flow diligently, especially as we get closer to the (Fed’s) final meeting for the year”.
Gold had slid for ten out of 11 sessions as of Wednesday. Platinum extended losses to $876.50 however, down 0.3 percent, having earlier fallen to $874, a near seven-year low.
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The industrial precious metals were pressured by a fresh batch of disappointing Chinese trade data, which could signal slower demand, as well as outflows from PGM-backed exchange-traded funds. It was reported that exports for October fell by 6.9 percent down for a fourth month in a row while imports slipped 18.8 percent leaving the country with a record high trade surplus of $61.64 billion which is being seen as a huge negative by traders and investors on the street.
