Gold Prices Fall as 2010 Closes Out
NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Gold prices lost ground Thursday, again retreating after testing record highs in the previous session.
Gold for February delivery declined $8.80, or 0.62%, to $1,404.30 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price traded as high as $1,415.40 and as low as $1,403.50 early in Thursday's session.
index was inching lower by 0.24% to $79.61 while the euro was up 0.43% to $1.33 vs. the dollar. The spot gold price was losing $7.80, according to Kitco's gold index.
A better-than-expected jobless claims report Thursday appeared to trigger the downtick in gold prices early on in the session. Meanwhile, January options expirations and tax considerations weighed on the price of the safe-haven metal, said George Gero, vice president of global futures at RBC Capital Markets in New York.
"People who have some question about the direction of the market next year don't want to have to pay taxes on something that might go down right after the new year," Gero said.
>> Video: The Next Big Gold Rush
Looking ahead into the first few weeks of 2011, Gero sees support for gold at $1,350 an ounce and resistance at $1,425. "On the other hand, you have enough going in the world to keep the market from having a major sell off," he said, noting tensions on the Korean peninsula and inflationary crop prices around the world.
lost about 13 cents to $30.47, while copper jumped 5 cents to $4.37, setting another record high.
The gold exchange-traded fund
SPDR Gold Shares
(GLD) - Get Report
was losing 0.5% to $137.03 Thursday.
, a risky but potentially profitable way to
, were mixed.
Kinross Gold
(KGC) - Get Report
was slipping 1% to $18.74 while
Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold
(FCX) - Get Report
was adding 13 cents at $119.28. Among other gold stocks,
New Gold
(NGD) - Get Report
and
Gold Fields
(GFI) - Get Report
were trading at $9.66 and $17.78, respectively.
-- Written by Scott Eden in New York
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