Gold Falls, Silver Rises

Ivaylo
10 Apr, 2007
New York City

Gold futures declined on profit-taking Monday, weighed down by a late-day slide in crude oil prices, as well as the strength of the dollar, as trading resumed after a three-day holiday weekend. Silver, though, advanced helped by a sharp rise in copper prices. Gold was slightly higher for much of the day, which was linked to light speculative buying in thin conditions. Gold then faltered during the last two hours of the session.

[R]5:00AM Gold declined on profit-taking and dollar strength, silver gained.[/R]
June gold shed $2.50 to end at $676.90 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May silver advanced 7 cents to settle at $13.81 an ounce. July platinum lost $1.60 to close at $1,264.30 an ounce, while June palladium added $1.60 to settle at $358 an ounce. In base metals trading, the most-active May copper contract rose on short covering and settled 12.90 cents higher at $3.5060 per pound.

The front-month May crude oil contract declined $2.77, or 4.3%, to $61.51 a barrel, the lowest settlement price for a front-month contract since March 21. May gasoline dropped 3.42 cents to close at $2.0946 a gallon after climbing as high as $2.1555 a gallon. May heating oil slipped 4.52 cents to settle at $1.8157 a gallon. Natural gas for May delivery ended 6.1 cents lower at $7.546 a million British thermal units.

Arabica coffee futures slid to three-day lows as funds and locals sold, before industry buying curbed the decline. May coffee closed down 1.20 cents weaker at $1.0965 a pound. May corn settled 2.5 cents lower at $3.6350 a bushel, and December corn finished a quarter-cent lower at $3.8650 a bushel.