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It was a fairly flat week for gold, silver and copper prices. Here’s a look at what’s been happening on the metals markets over the past five days.
Gold prices ended the week fairly flat, down 0.39 percent as of 1:34 p.m. EST on Friday. The yellow metal was trading around $1,360 per ounce in early January, but has slipped to about $1,322.
Still, prices have held up well above the $1,300 level following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union back on June 23. Gold prices are still up 24 percent since the start of the year.
The yellow metal fell on Friday on the back of fresh expectations for an interest rate hike in the US, the Bullion Desk reported. Market watchers have shifted their views due to calmer market conditions.
The silver price was also down for the week, dropping 1.9 percent to trade at $19.59 per ounce as of 2:10 p.m. EST. Silver is up 40 percent so far this year, but some say that the white metal could be ripe for a correction. Writing for Silver Seek, Andrew Hamilton argued that silver prices could face a dip in the near future, but added that “even though silver faces a healthy near-term correction, its bull-market upside remains vast.”
On the base metals side of things, copper prices were also flat, up 0.16 percent to $2.23 per pound as of 2:21 p.m. EST. The red metal dipped on Friday due to a stronger US dollar.
This Wednesday, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) reported a deficit of 119,000 metric tonnes in the global refined copper market for the first four months of the year. That compares to a surplus of about 13,000 tonnes in 2015.
World mined production, as well as refined production of copper, increased by 4 percent and 4.5 percent respectively. However, global apparent refined usage was up by 6 percent, largely driven by stronger Chinese demand.
Finally, spot oil prices dropped by 2.43 percent to $44.01 per barrel at 3:25 p.m. EST. Stronger exports from Iraq, combined with a rising number of oil rigs operating in the US, weighed on the energy commodity this week, as per Reuters.
“These large and increasing stocks will not only up the likelihood of additional commercial short hedges, but will also encourage the commercials to defer long hedges given the comfort of more than ample supply availability,” Jim Ritterbusch of oil markets consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates told the news agency.
Brent Crude prices were down 45 cents to $45.75 per barrel on Friday afternoon, while West Texas Intermediate dropped 56 cents to $44.19.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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