Flat finish for precious metals

Gold prices ended the U.S. day session slightly higher

Bullion prices ended near unchanged mark on Wednesday, 11 June 2014. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session slightly higher on Wednesday and hit a two-week high as optimism over global growth prospects took a hit and equities gave back some gains from their record run.

Gold for August delivery rose $1.10, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,261.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

July silver settled little changed at $19.17 an ounce.

Specifically, the World Bank cut its 2014 global growth outlook to 2.8% from 3.2% citing the harsh winter in the U.S. and the conflict in Ukraine while also revising projections for several major economies. For instance, the growth forecast for the U.S. was lowered to 2.1% from 2.8%, while China's GDP expectations were taken down to 7.6% from 7.7%. This news was also bullish for the gold market as it hints the world's major central banks can keep their easy-money policies in place at least a while longer.

A sell off in the U.S. stock market Wednesday was somewhat beneficial for the gold and silver markets. Escalating violence and instability in Iraq were also mentioned in the market place. Both of these elements provided some mild safe-haven demand for gold.

A feature in the market place recently has been the sinking value of the Euro currency and the rising value of the U.S. dollar. Last week's new monetary stimulus measures from the European Central Bank were a bearish underlying development for the Euro currency, as it hovers near a four-month low. Meantime, the U.S. dollar index is trading near a four-month high.

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