Weekly Round-Up: Gold Price Hits Six-week High on Safe-haven Buying

The spot gold price continued to rise this week as safe-haven buying of the metal continued. The yellow metal has gained about 4 percent in the past week, touching a six-week high during Friday trading hours.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the gold price rose as high as $1,168.32 per ounce. Minutes from a Wednesday Federal Open Market Committee meeting left market watchers unsure about an interest rate rise in the US in September, adding to uncertainty caused by China’s devaluation of the yuan last week. A number of other factors, including falling prices for other commodities, have led investors to turn to gold.
“With risk aversion on the rise in financial markets, gold could remain supported in the short-term by further short-covering and safe-haven demand,” Julius Baer, commodities research analyst at Carsten Menke, said in a note, as per the Journal.
Some are wondering whether the recent rally could signal a turning point for the gold price, with Ross Norman of Sharps Pixley stating that “[t]here are a number of reasons to be cautiously bullish.” However, he stressed that the key word there is “cautious,” and other market watchers are less convinced.

“The tide has not turned for gold at all and we do not see this trend going for long unless the situation becomes completely out of control in China,” Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, told MarketWatch.
For its part, the silver price was up 0.39 percent for the week overall, despite taking a bit of a tumble early on Tuesday and again on Friday. Spot silver was down 1.42 percent on Friday, trading at $15.33 per ounce. As with gold, silver bugs are starting to look for a price bottom.
Meanwhile, the copper price continued to fall despite getting a slight mid-week bump following the release of Fed meeting minutes. Spot copper was down 1.34 percent for the week, at $2.29 per pound.
The red metal fell on Friday following the release of weaker manufacturing data from China. The preliminary Caixin China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ index fell to 47.1 in August, marking a six-year low, according to Dow Jones Business News.
“The news out of China is not getting better, and it’s sending shockwaves through markets,” Societe Generale (EPA:GLE) analyst Robin Bhar told Bloomberg. “There are fears of depressed demand widening metal-market surpluses or erasing deficits, and therefore prices staying lower for longer.”
Oil prices also continued their downward trend, dropping below $40 a barrel on Friday. US crude is on its longest losing streak in 29 years, according to another Wall Street Journal article, with its price dipping as low as $39.86 a barrel after 1:00 p.m. EST. Oil drillers in the US have added two more rigs to their working fleet, adding to concerns that oversupply in the space is growing.

Given that China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer, the slowdown in the country has also put pressure on oil. “The Chinese slowdown continues to dominate the oil market, causing persistent concerns over a serious decline of Chinese oil demand in the second half of the year,” Myrto Sokou, senior analyst at Sucden Financial, told the Journal.
 
Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article. 
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