Heavy end-of-year selling by hedge funds and signals of potential progress in U.S. budget talks sent gold tumbling in Thursday trading, falling below $1,650 an ounce for the first time in months.
Gold futures for February delivery dropped to $1,648 on Thursday, according to CME Group. Gold traded as high as $1,672.80 and as low as $1,636. Gold bullion closed in London at $1,651, according to BullionVault.
Silver futures for February delivery sank to $29.96 per ounce. Thursday’s high for silver was $31.15, while the low was $29.66.
Gold and silver funds sank in Thursday trading.
- The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) tumbled 1.2%.
- The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) dropped 1.1%.
- The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) plunged 3.7%.
Gold and silver mining ETFs also moved down during the day.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) slipped 0.6%.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) fell 1.2%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) dipped 0.5%.
Gold mining shares mostly declined, with Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) falling the most.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) slid 1.2%.
- Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) edged down 0.5%.
- Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) dipped 0.5%.
- Goldcorp sank 1.6%.
- Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) declined 0.5%.
- Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) rose 0.8%.
- NovaGold Resources (NYSE:NG) fell back 0.9%.
- Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) retreated 1.9%.
Silver mining shares mostly rose on Thursday.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) climbed 2.4%.
- Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) ticked up 0.4%.
- Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) gained 0.5%.
- Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) fell 1.1%
- Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) dipped 0.1%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.
