Gold futures headed lower Friday, poised for a nearly 2% loss on the week as prices looked to extend their decline to a third-straight session, drawing little safe-haven interest following a sizable fall in new U.S. home sales for December.
Gold for February delivery declined $11.10, or 0.7%, to $1,658.80 U.S. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract, which dropped 1% on Thursday, traded about 1.7% lower for the week.
Silver for March delivery moved down by 39 cents, or 1.2%, to $31.33 U.S. an ounce.
Silver prices were set for a loss of about 1.8% for the week, but the metal has been outperforming gold so far this year, trading about 3.6% higher for the year to date, compared with gold’s 1.1% loss. Investment demand for silver in China is on the rise.
On Thursday, upbeat global economic data dulled gold’s safe-haven appeal, and HSBC metal strategists said that a rally for equities also undermined gold prices, with the S&P 500 index briefly moving over the 1,500 mark that day for the first time since 2007. U.S. stocks skewed modestly higher in Friday’s dealings.
A 7.3% fall in sales of new U.S. single-family homes in December provided little support to gold.
Other metals traded mostly lower Friday, with March copper down three cents, or 0.9%, at $3.64 U.S. a pound and April platinum shedding 80 cents, or 0.05%, to $1,683 U.S. an ounce.
Bucking the trend, March palladium tacked on $3.50, or 0.5%, to $730.20 U.S. an ounce.
