Gold traded sideways through Hong Kong and most of London then surged up to an intraday high of $953 at around 9 a.m. in New York only to completely erase the gains less than an hour later. From 10 a.m. through the Comex close gold showed a steep downward trend but reversed course and made up most of the day’s losses on the Globex, finishing at $949.00/oz., down $0.10. Overnight, gold has moved lower.
As is the norm of late, news flow slowed to a drip during Friday trading on the Canadian Markets with the headline on the junior front being a proposed three way merger. For the tale of the tape; the TSX Exchange added 0.63%, while the TSX Gold Index tacked on 1% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, gave back 0.20% with the advancers beating out the decliners by a 430 to 360 margin on 176 million shares traded.
Base metals all posted mediocre gains on Friday. Copper climbed 2.72 cents to close at $2.4082/lb. Nickel added nearly 4 cents to finish at $7.2507/lb. Zinc gained more than 3 pennies, ending at $0.7182/lb. Aluminum tacked on more almost 1 cent, closing at $0.7589/lb., while lead moved to $0.7533/lb., up almost three-and-a-half pennies from the previous session.
In the energy market, crude oil for August delivery climbed $1.51 from Thursday to close at $63.56/barrel. August reformulated gasoline rose more than five-and-a-half cents to finish at $1.7699/gallon.
In the currency market, the dollar climbed against the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.4099 vs. $1.4142 on Thursday.
Gold had another uneventful day. The slight downward trend that developed in London was erased before 10 a.m. on the Comex and the yellow metal stayed flat from there, finishing near where it started, at $937.70/oz., up $0.70. For the week, gold is up 2.7%.
Commodity related stocks bounced off their recent lows and that helped the Canadian markets post gains during Thursday’s session. For the tale of the tape: the TSX Exchange rallied 1.25%, while the TSX Gold Index bounced up 0.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.85% with the advancers edging out the decliners by a 386 to 325 margin on a pathetic 108 million shares traded.
Base metals were (mostly) slightly higher on Thursday. Copper gained 6.35 cents to close at $2.2069/lb. Nickel fell by nearly 2 cents to finish at $6.7139/lb. Zinc was little changed, ending at $0.6780/lb. Aluminum rose by nearly a cent, closing at $0.7014/lb., while lead moved to $0.7319/lb., up more than half a cent from the previous session.
In the energy market, crude oil for August delivery rose 27 cents from Wednesday to close at $60.41/barrel. August reformulated gasoline gained more than 3 cents to finish at $1.6638/gallon.
In the currency market, the dollar fell against the euro. Late Thursday, the euro was trading at $1.4036 vs. $1.3882 on Wednesday.
