Weekly Round-Up: Strong Dollar Pushes Down Gold, Silver and Copper

A stronger dollar, helped by a decline in the number of Americans filing jobless claims, rising stocks markets and a breach of key chart levels, triggered heavy selling of US futures this week, said Reuters. Gold dropped to a two-week low on Friday after climbing $24.90 on Wednesday, to $1,473.70, while silver prices, cued by dropping gold prices, similarly fell at the end of the week, continuing on a seven-month downtrend.

After reaching a three-week high on Wednesday due to expectations of rising demand from China, copper prices fell on Thursday. Price charts suggest that this was a pause, and that the copper outlook is positive overall.

Crude oil futures also fell this week as investors became concerned about dropping fuel demand and rising oil supplies. US oil inventories rose to 395.5 million barrels last week, the highest level in over 30 years. Additionally, output is increasing in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter.

With a great deal of commodity flip-flopping throughout the week, the Canadian dollar lost ground on Thursday. The rising oil and gold prices from earlier in the week strengthened the loonie, at times allowing it to get closer to matching the US dollar. However, dropping commodity prices along with an optimistic US dollar outlook took their toll, bringing the Canadian dollar down on Thursday.

Company news

Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:ABX) and the Dominican Republic reached a preliminary agreement to give the government a larger cut from a gold mine in the Caribbean nation, easing investor doubts over the future of one of the world’s largest new gold projects.

Canada-based Centerra Gold (TSX:CG) reported heightened first-quarter profits after strong gold production at its Mongolian mines. The company produced 115,220 ounces of gold during the first quarter of 2013, well over the 72,555 ounces it put out in the first quarter of 2012.