Gold Plunges on Hedge Fund Selling, Budget Deal Hopes
by Christopher Freeburn | December 20, 2012 4:55 pm
[1]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[2]. 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[3].
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[4]) tumbled 1.2%.
- The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU[5]) dropped 1.1%.
- The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV[6]) plunged 3.7%.
Gold and silver mining ETFs also moved down during the day.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX[7]) slipped 0.6%.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ[8]) fell 1.2%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL[9]) dipped 0.5%.
Gold mining shares mostly declined, with Goldcorp (NYSE:GG[10]) falling the most.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM[11]) slid 1.2%.
- Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX[12]) edged down 0.5%.
- Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO[13]) dipped 0.5%.
- Goldcorp sank 1.6%.
- Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC[14]) declined 0.5%.
- Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM[15]) rose 0.8%.
- NovaGold Resources (NYSE:NG[16]) fell back 0.9%.
- Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY[17]) retreated 1.9%.
Silver mining shares mostly rose on Thursday.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE[18]) climbed 2.4%.
- Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL[19]) ticked up 0.4%.
- Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS[20]) gained 0.5%.
- Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW[21]) fell 1.1%
- Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI[22]) dipped 0.1%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault[23] contributed to this report.
Endnotes:
- [Image]: https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/PreciousMetalsRecap.gif
- CME Group: http://www.cmegroup.com
- BullionVault: http://www.bullionvault.com
- GLD: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GLD
- IAU: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=IAU
- SLV: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SLV
- GDX: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GDX
- GDXJ: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GDXJ
- SIL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SIL
- GG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GG
- AEM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AEM
- ABX: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=ABX
- EGO: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=EGO
- KGC: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=KGC
- NEM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NEM
- NG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NG
- AUY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AUY
- CDE: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CDE
- HL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=HL
- PAAS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=PAAS
- SLW: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SLW
- SSRI: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SSRI
- BullionVault: http://www.bullionvault.com/
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