Gold prices slipped on Wednesday after settling at the highest level in a month a day earlier, although the price of the most-active contract held above $1,700 per ounce.
Silver prices retreated after the most-active contract rose more than 50 cents to settle at the highest level since June on Tuesday.
Price action
-
Gold prices for December delivery
GCZ22,
-0.29%
shed $4, or 0.2%, to $1,711.90 per ounce on Comex. -
Silver prices for December delivery
SIZ22,
-0.66%
shed 9 cents, or 0.4%, to $21.41 per ounce. -
Palladium prices for December delivery
PAZ22,
-2.39%
fell $13.60, or 0.7%, to $1,919 per ounce, while platinum prices for January delivery
PLF23,
-0.52%
lost $2.50, or 0.2%, to $1,011.90 per ounce. -
Copper prices for December delivery
HGZ22,
-0.99%
dropped 5 cents, or 1.3%, to $3.64 per pound.
What’s happening
A weaker U.S. dollar and lower Treasury yields helped push gold and silver higher on Tuesday, but that trade was starting to reverse early Wednesday, which weighed on prices of precious metals, analysts said.
While the latest move higher in gold is encouraging for bulls, the yellow metal must surmount its highs from early October to break out of the downtrend that has kept pressure on prices since March, analysts at Sevens Report Research said.
“Technically speaking, gold still has some work to do on the charts starting with a break above the early October high of $1,735 before we can more comfortably suggest the trend is shifting while it is also too early to call a top in yields or the dollar,” they said.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
a gauge of the greenback’s strength against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.2% at 109.85 after touching its lowest level since September a day ago.
