Metals Weekly Round-Up: Correction Pushes Gold Below US$1,800

The gold price continued to tumble lower this week, dragged down by more positive COVID-19 vaccine news. The optimism around the latest vaccination announcements translated into economic rebound hopes, which weighed on safe haven demand.

The yellow metal fell as low as US$1,776.59 per ounce on Friday (November 27) after dropping 1 percent since Thursday (November 26). It hasn’t slipped below US$1,800 since July.

Silver also faced headwinds during the last full week of the month, shedding US$2 by week’s end.

London-listed AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) is the latest company to share vaccine news, and said it will be ready for rollout in the new year.

“This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency,” said CEO Pascal Soriot.

“Furthermore, the vaccine’s simple supply chain and our no-profit pledge and commitment to broad, equitable and timely access means it will be affordable and globally available, supplying hundreds of millions of doses on approval.”

Speaking about gold’s descent, Peter Grandich of Peter Grandich & Company reminded investors to look at big picture drivers such as continued currency debasement.

“We had a near-parabolic rise earlier this year. It’s not uncommon to see a substantial correction not long after that. I think that’s what we’ve experienced,” he said.

Watch the full interview with Grandich above.

“It has been and will continue to be dominated by the debasement of currencies worldwide. There’s no longer a standout among any currencies and when interest rates are this low gold makes a natural case for what it’s been for several hundreds of years and that’s an alternative to paper money.”

As of 10:40 a.m. EST on Friday, gold was priced at US$1,783.25.

Silver’s correlation to gold drove the white metal lower this week as well. Renewed economic optimism wasn’t enough to push silver’s industrial side higher.

Starting the period at US$24.05 per ounce, silver trended lower for the rest of the week, bottoming out at US$22.41 when markets opened on Friday. The 6 percent decline was the sharpest decrease silver has experienced since September.

At 10:49 a.m. EST on Friday, silver was valued at US$22.70.

As gold and silver faced volatility, platinum and palladium were able to edge out small gains.

Platinum slipped briefly mid-week but recovered, ending the period slightly higher than Monday (November 23). Palladium faced a similar trajectory, shedding value mid-week and then rallying back.

By Friday morning, platinum was trading for US$960 per ounce, while palladium was selling for US$2,269 per ounce.

The base metals displayed a mixed performance for the final week of November.

“The base metals complex reacted positively to the economic data coming out of China early on Friday, after the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said that profits in Chinese industrial companies had surged,” reads a daily report from Fastmarkets.

Lead pulled off a 2 percent uptick for the best performance of the week. It was followed by copper, which had edged 1.9 percent higher by week’s end. Lead has steadily moved higher since early November, adding 14 percent to its value since the beginning of the month.

On Friday morning, lead was priced at US$2,031 per tonne.

Copper followed a similar path, save for some volatility experienced mid-month. The red metal has climbed 9.5 percent since November 1, motivated by economic growth in key countries.

Prices could be further helped by a 4 percent year-on-year decline in mine supply forecast by Refinitv. By Thursday, copper prices breached US$7,500 per tonne for the first time since 2013. Copper was selling for US$7,511 Friday.

Despite issues with mine supply earlier in the month, zinc prices traded sideways this week.

Starting the period at US$2,756 per tonne, the metal dipped to US$2,727 on Wednesday (November 25). By Thursday, prices had crept higher, holding at US$2,754.50 into Friday.

Nickel also benefited from a rally in base metals prices, but that could be short-lived, according to another Fastmarkets report.

“A positive outlook and an extremely liquid climate could see rallies extend well beyond where value lies,” it reads. “Needless to say we think prices have run ahead of the fundamentals and are vulnerable to a correction.” Nickel was moving for US$16,055 per tonne on Friday morning.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.