Fourth straight day of losses for bullions

Strength in the dollar dulled the metal's investment appeal

Bullion prices registered a fourth straight day of losses on Wednesday, 30 September 2015 at Comex, settling at their lowest level in more than two weeks, as a climb in the U.S. stock market and strength in the dollar dulled the metal's investment appeal on Wednesday. The session's decline contributed to the metal's losses for the month, quarter and year.

December gold settled at $1,115.20 an ounce on Comex, down $11.60, or 1%, for the session. Based on the most-active contracts, prices lost 1.5% for the month and 4.8% for the quarter. Year to date, gold is down 5.8%.

December silver lost 5.5 cents, or 0.4%, to $14.518 an ounce. Prices, based on the most-active contracts, saw a 6.8% quarterly decline and a 0.5% monthly decline in September. Year to date, they were down 6.9%.

A reading showing that U.S. companies added a better-than-expected 200,000 private-sector jobs in September, according to payroll processor ADP, helped the metal extend its losses early in the session. Upbeat economic data may boost prospects that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year, which in turn could provide support for the U.S. Higher rates can be a drag on gold, which doesn't bear interest, and a stronger greenback can dull demand for dollar-denominated commodities.

China's gold reserves were reported by its government at 54.45 million ounces as of August, which is up 60% from 2009 levels, but not nearly as much as analysts expected. The Chinese government agency overseeing its gold reserves said gold's price volatility does not make the metal conducive for holding larger stockpiles. This news also did not sit well with the buy-and-hold private gold investors worldwide.

Traders are looking ahead to Friday's U.S. jobs report for September from the Labor Department. The key non-farm employment figure is expected to be up 200,000 in September, versus a miss to the downside of up 173,000 in the August report.

In overnight news, Euro zone consumer inflation in September fell 0.1% from a year ago. An unchanged reading was expected. This report only adds to the deflation fears that are presently gripping the Euro zone, and which could spread to major economies worldwide. The unemployment rate in the Euro zone was reported at 11.0% in August.

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