Weekly Round-Up: Prices for Metals, Brent Crude Down as Dollar Rises

Commodities fell today as investors remained cautious over the future of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program and after positive economic data caused the dollar to rise.

Spot gold prices were at $1,313.96 an ounce this morning, down $9.19 from the previous session, Reuters reported. Earlier in the day, the yellow metal hit a low of $1,311.50 an ounce, its lowest price since October 22.

On the COMEX, gold futures for December delivery were down $10.30, to $1,313.20 an ounce, according to Reuters.

The Federal Open Market Committee announced this week that it will not taper its monthly $85-billion bond-buying program, citing a soft economy, Reuters notes in another article.

“The weakness we have been seeing in gold in the past two days is due to the after-effects of the FOMC statement and also the extremely low inflation rate in the euro zone,” Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann is quoted as saying.

Silver prices were at $21.85 an ounce today, unchanged from yesterday. Like gold, silver plunged lower earlier this morning, falling to $21.66, its lowest level since October 17, as per Reuters.

Copper also declined today, falling $39, to $7,250 a tonne, according to Reuters. Three-month copper prices on the London Metal Exchange fell even more, to $7,244.50 a tonne. The metal was impacted by a stronger dollar as well as better-than-expected Chinese factory data.

Brent crude oil was also down today, dropping $2.01 to hit $106.83 a barrel, the news outlet said. In early morning trade, however, Brent crude was trading up at $109.41 a barrel as the dollar’s rise overshadowed investors’ concerns over a decline in Libyan crude exports.

Related reading: 

Gold Lower on Bearish Fed Signal

Silver Falls on Fed Statement, Silver Wheaton Sinks on Barrick News