Gold Slides on Crude Slump
Gold prices slid Thursday as the cost of buying a barrel crude oil retreated from its all-time high.
Benchmark bullion futures slipped $10.30 to settle at $918.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Rising oil prices are seen as a key driver in pushing inflation higher, which tends to inspire some investors to seek out gold as a hedge against a generally rising price level. So when oil prices retreat it is not uncommon to see the price of gold do so also.
The
SPDR Gold Trust
(GLD) - Get Report
, which holds bars of pure bullion, fell 1.1%, in line with the spot market action.
In the precious metals patch,
Kinross Gold
(KGC) - Get Report
was declined 2.4%, while those of
Barrick Gold
(ABX)
were off about 0.3%, both pulled lower by the falling metal price.
In the foreign-exchange market, one euro was buying $1.5702 vs. $1.5697 on Wednesday. One dollar was trading for 104.2 Japanese yen down from 104.3 yen previously. The British pound was selling for $1.978 vs. $1.9778.
The
CurrencyShares Euro Trust
(FXE) - Get Report
and the
CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust
(FXY) - Get Report
were falling 0.6% and 1.2% respectively. The
CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling
(FXB) - Get Report
was up 0.5%.