Gold backs away from five-week high
Bullion prices ended lower on Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at Comex. Gold backed away from five-week high territory on Tuesday, giving back most of the gains it scored at the end of last week as dollar strength and downbeat price forecasts for the year encouraged sellers.
Gold for February delivery fell $10.10, or 0.8%, to $1,241.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading floors were closed on Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Prices had tallied a gain of roughly 1.1% on Thursday and Friday.
March silver led the percentage declines among the metals, shedding 43 cents, or 2.1%, to $19.87 an ounce.
The London Bullion Market Association reported that its overview of analysts' forecasts show that gold and silver are expected to remain broadly flat during 2014. Analysts forecast average gold prices to be $1,219 an ounce in 2014. LBMA also said that analysts forecast that silver will stabilize in 2014 to an average price of $19.95 an ounce.
There was no major U.S. economic data due out Tuesday, which made for a quieter trading day for many markets. The International Monetary Fund released its world economic outlook on Tuesday, which showed a rise of 0.1%, to 3.7% in 2014. The IMF report continued a trend of generally upbeat economic data coming out of most major world economies.
In overnight news, China's central bank injected liquidity into its financial system to check a rise in short-term interest rates, which was attributed to cash needs for consumers ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday that begins on January 31.
The German ZEW economic conditions index was released on Tuesday and it unexpectedly fell to 61.7 in January from 62.0 in December. The consensus forecast was for a reading of 64.0. The Euro currency was pressured on the German data.
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