NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fell Thursday, at one point tumbling 5% to below $700 an ounce for the first time in 13 months, as fund liquidation and the U.S. dollar’s rise continued to pound the precious metal for a third straight session. Copper dropped more than 3%.
Gold for December delivery slumped to $695.20 an ounce earlier, trading below $700 for the first time since September, 2007. It pared some of its losses recently, down $13.60, or 1.9%, at $721.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“Speculative selling continues to hammer commodity prices,” said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. Meanwhile, gold was also “under pressure as the dollar rallied.”
Gold is often seen as an investment safe haven whose prices tend to rise when the economy falls into troubles, but its recent slumps have defied conventional wisdom. Gold has fallen 10 out of the past 11 sessions since Oct. 8 and has lost more than $200 an ounce.
See related story.“The fact that gold did not head higher during the current leg of the crisis seems to reflect a combination of the rise in the dollar, deleveraging of commodity positions, sales to meet margin calls, and the unwinding of the long gold, short dollar trade,” wrote Natalie Dempster, an analyst at the World Gold Council.
The U.S. dollar continued its rally Thursday, putting more pressures on gold. A rising dollar tends to reduce gold’s appeal as an investment alternative.
In exchange-traded funds, gold in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest gold ETF, stood at 755.64 tons Wednesday, according to the latest data from the fund. Gold at SPDR hit record high of 770.64 tons on Oct. 10.
The SPDR Gold Trust
(GLD:
Elsewhere, December copper dropped 5.9 cents, or 3.2%, to $1.8065 a pound. The metal has dropped 40% so far this year, heading for the biggest yearly percentage drop since 1988, when trading data first became available on the Nymex.
Copper is heavily used in cars, homes and appliances and is seen as an economic barometer.
December silver rose 2.1% to $9.66 an ounce. January platinum tumbled 4.5% to $818.50 an ounce, and December palladium fell 3.8% to $173.30 an ounce.
In spot trading, the London gold-fixing price — used as a benchmark for gold for immediate delivery — stood at $726 an ounce Thursday morning local time, down $18 from Wednesday afternoon.
On the equities side, the Amex Gold Bugs Index
HUI 171.59, +3.23, +1.9%) rose 3.9% to 174.93 points.
IShares Gold Trust
IAU 71.23, -0.73, -1.0%) slid 0.9% to $71.29,
The Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF
![]()
GDX 18.69, +0.20, +1.1%) added 3% to close at $19.04.
Moming Zhou is a MarketWatch reporter, based in San Francisco.
spdr gold trust gold shs
Last: 71.04-0.67-0.93%
Dare Something Worthy Today Too! 