Gold, Silver Heading Lower Before the Weekend

by Andrew Burger | February 17, 2012 11:51 am

Gold and silver continued to move lower Friday morning, as the latest report on consumer price inflation came in about as expected, and markets appeared a bit more cautious ahead of a scheduled vote on Greece’s austerity[1] and bailout package by eurozone finance ministers Monday.

Having risen overnight in Asia-Pacific trading, spot gold was 0.16% lower at 10:50 a.m., bid at $1,726 per ounce with an ask price of $1,727. Spot gold traded as high as $1,737.10 and as low as $1,720.40. The London morning fixed reference price came in at $1,732, $16 per ounce higher than Thursday’s afternoon price fix, according to Kitco market data[2].

Spot silver was showing a 0.27% loss, bid at $33.43 with an ask price of $33.53. The morning high as of time of writing was $33.80 and the low was $33.23. Friday’s reference price was set at $33.48 in the London a.m., 30 cents an ounce above Thursday’s reference price fix.

CPI-U, the consumer price index for all urban consumers, increased[3] at a seasonally adjusted 0.2% monthly in January, 0.1% below market expectations. Core CPI — excluding food and energy — rose 0.2% as well, 0.1% above consensus expectations. Consumer prices rose 2.9% in the previous 12 months on a raw, unadjusted basis.

Marking three consecutive months of gains, the Conference Board’s report on Leading Economic Indicators added some further shine to the positive market tone, increasing 0.4%[4] in January on a monthly basis, in line with market expectations. LEI increased 0.5% in December, and 0.3% in November.

Gold bullion was hovering[5] around $1,730 per ounce in London morning trading Friday, as market participants are focused on the eurozone finance minister vote Monday, BullionVault reported in its daily London Gold Market report. Gold was up less than 0.5% heading into the weekend in a relatively quiet session, though German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s reported call to allow Greece to default was strongly rebuffed by Premier Angela Merkel.

Gold and silver trusts were moving lower in stock exchange trading.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD[6]) was moving lower, down nearly 0.6%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU[7]) also was showing losses of around 0.6%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV[8]) was down nearly 0.9%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs also were moving lower heading into the Presidents’ Day holiday weekend.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX[9]) was around 1.4% lower.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ[10]) was showing losses of some 2%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL[11]) was down around 0.2%.

Gold mining shares were heading south to close out the week.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM[12]) was showing losses of some 2.6%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX[13]) was down around 2.4%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO[14]) was down more than 2.1%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG[15]) was nearly 1% lower.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC[16]) was down around 2%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM[17]) was down around 1.15%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG[18]) was down more than 3.4%.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY[19]) was down 0.9%.

Silver mining shares were broadly lower, with Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL[20]) and Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS[21]) bucking the morning trend.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE[22]) was moving lower, down some 0.35%.
• Hecla Mining was moving higher, up nearly 0.4%.
• Pan American Silver was showing gains of around 0.6%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW[23]) was down some 0.75%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI[24]) was nearly 0.8% lower.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault[25] contributed to this report.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/02/gold-silver-prices-gld-bullion-hl-paas-mining-stocks/

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