The Star E-dition

US RETAIL SALES DATA HITS METALS

I Reuters

GOLD SLID nearly 3 percent yesterday and silver lost 5 percent as strong US retail sales data boosted the dollar and gave more ammunition to bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may hasten its tapering.

Spot gold price slid 2.2 percent to $1 753.58 (about R25 173) an ounce by 5.45pm, after hitting a more than one-month low of $1 744.30. US gold futures fell 2.3 percent to $1 753.90 an ounce.

Caught in gold’s slipstream, silver was last down 4.5 percent to $22.74 an ounce.

Hammering gold’s appeal to holders of other currencies, the dollar jumped after data showed an unexpected increase in US retail sales in August.

“Gold has taken a pretty big hit,” with the upside in the dollar and Treasury yields and the stronger data, “you have longs running for the exit,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.

Unless there’s some geopolitical event or a Fed surprise, gold’s trajectory is unlikely to change going into the FOMC meeting, Haberkorn added.

Gold also found little respite from labour market sluggishness, with initial jobless claims coming slightly higher than expected last week.

The better-than-expected numbers show “consumer sentiment is starting to come back, a good indicator for the Fed to bring in those expectations on the next rate hike,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

Focus now turns to the Fed’s September 21-22 meeting.

“There are a lot of members in the FOMC in favour of commencing tapering this year, and therefore the outlook for gold is not positive,” said Quantitative Commodity Research analyst Peter Fertig.

Platinum fell 1.6 percent to $932.36 an ounce, while palladium was the sole gainer, rising 2.2 percent to $2 047.24 an ounce.

BUSINESS REPORT

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2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/282076280001411

African News Agency