Gold futures headed lower Thursday, on pace to notch a fourth consecutive loss, as the precious metal continued to be walloped by recent momentum in the U.S. dollar.
August gold
GCQ8, -0.41%
was trading down $3.20, or nearly 0.3%, to $1,252.90 an ounce, on track for its lowest settlement since mid-December and set to register the lengthiest selloff for a most-active contract since a four-day slide ended Feb. 7, according to FactSet data.
The most popular exchange-traded fund that tracks gold, the SPDR Gold Shares
GLD, -0.15%
has fallen 1.5% so far this week and was looking at a 3.7% drop in June, along with a 4.1% year-to-date retreat.
The dollar-pegged commodity has decidedly turned lower even as uncertainty over global growth and anxieties about escalating trade tensions—factors that would typically provide a lift for the commodity—have intensified.
“The yellow metal, which usually rises in times of political turmoil, has hardly seen any demand and has fallen by almost 4% in the past two weeks, coming under pressure due to the rising dollar and hawkish stance by the [U.S.] Federal Reserve,” analysts at ICICI Bank wrote in a Thursday note.
Gold prices have lost 1.4% so far this week and 4% so far in June. Meanwhile, the closely watched equity benchmark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, +0.09%
which tends to climb as gold falls, has shed 2.1% this week, and is on track for a monthly decline of 1.4%.
The current dynamic in gold has led some investors to wonder if the precious metal has lost its efficacy as a traditional haven asset.
Read: Here’s what may be eroding gold’s traditional haven status
The dollar, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY, -0.07%
is often cited as the greatest headwind for the yellow metal. The index boasts a weekly gain of 0.7% and is up 1.2% so far in June.
In U.S. economic news Thursday, data revealed that growth in the U.S. economy in the first quarter was lowered to 2% from 2.2%. Weekly initial jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 227,000.
Elsewhere, September silver
SI1, -1.66%
the most active contract, fell by 1.1% to $16.055 an ounce. Silver is poised for weekly and monthly declines of 2.9%
The most popular exchange-traded fund that tracks silver, the iShares Silver Trust
SLV, -0.60%
was down 0.5% Thursday, trading down 2.6% month to date.
September copper
HGU8, -1.15%
lost 1.8% to $2.955 a pound. October platinum
PLV8, -1.18%
declined by 1% to $853.20 an ounce, while September palladium
PAU8, -0.92%
traded at $936.10 an ounce, down 0.8%.
Source : MTV
