Weekly Round-Up: Prices Decline on Chinese Manufacturing Data, Stronger Dollar

Gold dropped on Friday as the dollar recovered from a steep decline, according to Reuters. Despite that fall, gold is still on track for a fifth straight week of gains as stocks worldwide did poorly.
CBC News reported this morning that stock markets are volatile for the second straight day due to sharp drops in the value of several emerging-market currencies, including Turkey, South Africa, Russia and Argentina.
The TSX/S&P index plunged 230 points, while in New York the Dow crashed 187 points, adding to a drop of 200 points on Thursday, according to CBC.
While gold gained $29.80 yesterday, today spot gold was down 0.3 percent, to $1,260.10 per ounce, and US gold futures for February delivery dropped $2.50 an ounce, or 0.2 percent, to $1,259.80.
“Yesterday’s gold move was down to the very weak U.S. dollar, falling U.S. bond yields and declining equities, while in addition, we had some calls from India to ease import restrictions,” Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann told Reuters. “That also contributed to the price rise. We think, all things being equal, that we may see some more setbacks before gold can move higher.”
Today silver was down 0.3 percent, to $19.94 per ounce, for much the same reason gold suffered declines.
Copper fell $93, or 1.3 percent, to $7,199 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange today, its lowest in a month, according to Reuters. The commodity is on track to close the week with a loss of 1.9 percent. The Chinese manufacturing data discussed above hit copper prices hard.
“There is nothing positive for copper at the moment,” Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade in Dublin, told Reuters. “The HSBC Flash manufacturing PMI data rattled many nerves in the market.”
On New York’s COMEX, March copper declined $0.01, or 0.3 percent, to $3.28 a pound, according to The Financial Post.
Brent crude oil prices fell below $107 per barrel briefly on Friday, according to Business Day. Brent crude was down $0.28, or 0.26 percent, to $107.30 per barrel as trading continued, however. The price of Brent crude fell on poor performance in stock markets and by emerging markets, and was also impacted by the latest Chinese manufacturing data. Any slowdown in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, will have a serious impact on the commodity’s price.
 
Related reading: 
Gold Spikes $30 on Comments re Indian Import Restrictions
Silver Takes a Fall; “Rallies Should Fade,” Says Standard Bank
Weak Data from China, Strong US Dollar Rattle Copper Investors