Gold Prices Directionless; Euro Falls
NEW YORK (
--
were tentative Thursday as they looked to the euro for direction.
Gold for April delivery was adding $1.60 to $1,125.40 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have traded as high as $1,128.50 and as low as $1,118.20. The
was rising 0.81% to $80.29. Gold's spot price was up $1.40, according to Kitco's gold index.
Gold prices remained in a tight trading range Thursday as the euro was curbing gold's upside. Reportedly, Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou said the country needed financial aid in order to execute its deficit cuts. Greece is pessimistic that it will receive a bailout from the European Union and said it might have to seek funding from the
. A Greek Finance Minister official has since denied this rumor, but the euro was hurt on uncertainty fears, which weighed on prices.
Euro Pressures Gold
"The uptrend resumed after the Fed's
announcement but ran into a bit of difficulties following this morning's revelation that the Greek crisis remains at an impasse mode," says Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco.com. "While it is putting some cushion under gold
prices in terms of a quest for safe haven,
it is bolstering the U.S. dollar ... and is pressuring the euro, and gold and the euro, certainly as of late, have been trading like kissing cousins."
were down 7 cents to $17.45 while copper prices were slipping 2cents to $3.39.
Mining stocks, a more leveraged way to
, were mixed.
Barrick Gold
(ABX)
was losing 0.70% to $39.89 while
Newmont Mining
(NEM) - Get Report
was rising 0.72% to $51.60. Other large-cap miners
Kinross Gold
(KGC) - Get Report
and
Goldcorp
(GG)
were trading at $18.15 and $39.50, respectively.
Shares of
Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold
(FCX) - Get Report
were lower by 0.81% to $80.57, and
Yamana Gold
(AUY) - Get Report
was up 0.39% to $10.25.
SPDR Gold Shares
(GLD) - Get Report
was rising 0.66% to $110.31.
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Written by Alix Steel in New York
.
Alix joined TheStreet.com TV in February 2007. Previously, she held positions in film and theater production, management, and legal administration. Alix has a degree in communications and theater from Northwestern University.