Gold futures capped the biggest decline in three weeks as a stronger dollar and plunging energy prices curbed demand for the metal. Silver plunged the most in 17 months.
Gold is heading for a second straight annual loss, the longest slump since 1998, after the dollar strengthened and inflation failed to accelerate this year. Societe Generale SA trimmed its price forecast for bullion this week, saying the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates by mid-2015 as US economic growth improves, Bloomberg reported.
“There was a selloff in crude oil and the dollar rallied, and there’s a question of disinflation here,” Bart Melek, the head of commodity strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. “One of the motives to buy gold is to hedge against inflationary pressure, and we’ve got the opposite.”
Gold futures for February delivery fell 1.8 percent to settle at $1,175.50 an ounce at 12:51 p.m. on the Comex in New York, the biggest decline since Nov. 5. Floor trading was shut yesterday for Thanksgiving.
India Imports
Restrictions on gold imports in India were withdrawn, effective immediately, the Reserve Bank of India said. A Finance Ministry official said the country scrapped the “20:80” rule to remove distortions in shipments of gold into India and exports of jewelry.
“It might look good on the official books, but I think the impact on gold wasn’t near as robust as some would have hoped,” Melek said. Even with the rule, “you already had informal channels develop” for buying and selling gold, he said.
Switzerland will vote Nov. 30 on an initiative that would require the central bank to hold at least 20 percent of its assets in gold from about 8 percent now. A plurality of voters oppose the measure, though a portion were still undecided, polls released last week showed.
Silver futures for March delivery on the Comex slumped 6.3 percent to $15.556 an ounce, the biggest drop since June 2013.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, platinum futures for January delivery fell 1.4 percent to $1,211.30 an ounce. Palladium futures for March delivery advanced 1.3 percent to $813.30 an ounce after touching $816.10, the highest for a most-active contract since Sept. 25.
