Gold, Silver Sag at Start of Eventful Week

by Andrew Burger | June 25, 2012 11:34 am

[1] Gold was weak and silver lower Monday morning to open a week full of anticipation of news and data.

Spot gold was ticking into negative territory, down 0.01% and bid at $1,572.20 an ounce at 10:41 a.m. The morning high reached $1,577.20, with the low at 1,567.90, according to Kitco market data[2]. The London afternoon reference price was fixed at $1,570, $4.50 an ounce higher than Friday’s price fixing.

Spot silver was down 0.22%, bid at $26.84. The day’s high thus far was $27.02 and the low $26.65. The London a.m. reference price was fixed at $26.72, nine cents an ounce lower than Friday’s reference price.

This week is packed with potentially market-moving news and events. First, the Supreme Court[3] is expected to rule on “Obamacare”– President Obama’s health-care plan, which would extend health insurance to some 30 million Americans and “reshape an industry that makes up about 18 percent of the country’s economy.”

Sales of new homes rose a greater-than-expected 369,000[4], up 7.6% monthly in May as mortgage rates fell, the Commerce Dept. reported.

European Union (EU) leaders are due to meet for a summit[5] Thursday and Friday in which they are expected to discuss closer fiscal integration, a cross-border banking union and the possibility of establishing a joint debt-redemption fund.

Spain’s economy minister, Luis de Guindos, officially requested up to €100 billion[6] ($125 billion) in emergency rescue funds to prop up the country’s ailing banking sector.

Italy and Spain are due to auction treasury debt[7] securities tomorrow. Yields on Spain’s benchmark 10-year bond rose above 7% last week, again sparking calls on eurozone leaders to take action.

Gold bullion fell below $1,570[8] an ounce in London trading Monday morning and is now at levels not seen since the second week of May, when prices fell through the $1,600 level for the first time in 2012, BullionVault reported.

“Gold has essentially been in a sideways range for the past seven weeks,” BullionVault quoted the latest technical analysis note from Scotia Mocatta. “We will need to see a break through the low at $1,526 to get a bigger directional move.”

Gold trusts were marginally lower, while the iShares Silver Trust was showing larger losses in U.S. stock exchange trading.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD[9]) was showing slight losses of around 0.02%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU[10]) was trading around 0.07% lower.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV[11]) was down around 0.4%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were down as well Monday morning.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX[12]) was down around 0.25%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ[13]) was around 1.75% lower.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL[14]) was down some 1.45%.

Gold mining shares were putting in a mixed performance.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM[15]) was around 0.4% higher.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX[16]) was around 0.4% higher.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO[17]) was down some 1.95%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG[18]) was up around 0.7%.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC[19]) was down around 0.85%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM[20]) was showing gains of around 0.8%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG[21]) was down some 1.1%.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY[22]) was around 0.45%-0.55% higher.

Silver mining shares were down across the board.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE[23]) was down around 1.3%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL[24]) was down some 1.3%.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS[25]) was down around 1.6%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW[26]) was down some 1.1%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI[27]) was showing losses of more than 1.6%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/06/gold-silver-sag-at-start-of-eventful-week/

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