Weekly Round-Up: Weak Dollar Backs Gold While Other Commodities Suffer
A weaker dollar helped support gold on July 26, but was unable to keep other commodities on an upward trend.
Spot gold fell $6.63, to $1,326.60 per ounce, on Friday after hitting a high of $1,340 earlier in the day. The commodity hit a four-week high on Monday. Still, analysts’ expectations for gold remain cautious.
“I don’t really see how gold can go much higher,” Matthew Turner, an analyst at Macquarie, told Reuters. “After all the shenanigans of the last few weeks, we know that tapering at some point is clearly still the policy.”
Unlike gold, the weak dollar was unable to boost silver on July 26. The metal dropped $0.22 to $19.97 per ounce. Prior to Friday, silver has performed well all month. Its price has increased 11 percent since June 26, according to Reuters.
Copper fell for the second consecutive day on Friday. On the London Metal Exchange, three-month copper traded at $6,924.50 a tonne, down from Thursday’s last bid of $7,010 a tonne.
Earlier in the week, copper hit a one-month high of $7,119 a tonne, but it has been struggling amid a negative economic outlook for its biggest consumer, China.
Worries over the Chinese economy also hurt Brent crude oil prices on July 26, along with an unusually high US output. Futures for September delivery fell $0.92, to $106.68 per barrel, according to Reuters. The day prior, the commodity rose $0.46.
US light crude for September delivery similarly decreased $1.34, to $104.14 per barrel.
“Oil ought to be benefiting from the weaker dollar and strengthening U.S. economy, but that is not the theme today,” Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank, told Reuters.