On Thursday, by the time North American trade hours came to a close, gold futures had fallen lower. The yellow metal ended a string of gains as global tensions showed signs of abating. Other precious metals, such as silver and palladium also fell lower.
As of 4 pm EST, spot gold (XAU/USD) was down 0.24 percent. It was trading at $1,345.67 per ounce.
The other closely watched contract, June U.S. gold futures ended the day down $4.70, or 0.4 percent. It closed at $1,348.80 per ounce.
Global uncertainty has clamed down somewhat. Geopolitical worries, trade risk have moved to back of trader’s minds, at least for now. Looks like the United States and North Korea a calming down with saber rattling and tensions in the Middle East with Syria has abated.
Gold Traders follow Geopolitical Headlines
In the headlines, President Donald Trump said, overnight, that he hoped a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be successful. Also, Western missile strikes in Syria were less extensive than investors had feared. Earlier in the week, a senior administration official said Trump was not in favor of imposing more sanctions on Russia. He would delay that for now.
Silver, the other precious metal and the bullion’s cousin, had been supported by a rally in base metals. The downside is relatively limited with silver. This is because silver was already pushed very low. There are no open positions to be squeezed, as well.
Silver has been the worst performer of the precious metals for the past six months. Its price is fairly flat. The yellow metal is up 4.5 percent and there is a 7.7 percent rise to date with palladium.
Platinum was down 0.27 percent at $933 per ounce. It touched a better than a three week high of $953.50 earlier during North American trade hours. Palladium was 0.34 percent. It was fetching $1,031.49 per ounce. This is comes after seeing its highest price level since February 27 at $1,057.20.