On Monday, gold futures for February delivery edged $1.20 lower to settle at $1,731 per ounce, while silver futures fell 26 cents to close at $33.53.
The euro slipped under $1.31 as Greece has made little progress in resolving its debt crisis. A summit in Brussels today where European leaders were meant to work on a permanent aid fund and tougher budget rules quickly devolved into a sparring match between Greece and other nations critical of Greece’s half-hearted efforts to get its deficit under control.
Don’t Miss: With Friends Like These Does Gold Need an Official QE3?
Greece fended off German and Dutch calls for an overseer to take command of its budget after its deficits surpassed targets in each of the last two years. Concerns over Greece’s ability to deliver budget cuts and economic reforms are holding up other parts of the nation’s next aid package, which it needs to meet a 14.5 billion-euro bond payment due on March 20.
In afternoon trading, the SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Silver Trust declined as the U.S. dollar index climbed higher. However, gold miners such as Yamana Gold and Barrick Gold increased .80 percent and .06, respectively. Newmont Mining also gained .31 percent. Silver miners such as Endeavour Silver and First Majestic both declined, while Silvercorp Metals edged .37 percent higher.
Investor Insight: Is 2012 the Year of the Golden Dragon?
Over the weekend, new data was released that showed strong gold demand in China has continued into the new year. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, sales of gold, silver and jewelry increased 57.6 percent at Caibai during China’s week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Caibai is one of Beijing’s most popular gold retailers. Guan Qiang, assistant manager at Caibai explained, “Long treasured by Chinese, gold is no longer owned only by a privileged few, but has become a new investment channel open to all.”
If you would like to receive more professional analysis on equity miners and other precious metal investments, we invite you to try our premium service free for 14 days.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eric McWhinnie at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com
2 comments