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BULLION LATEST 20/10: Gold price drifts lower as dollar strengthens

The spot gold price drifted lower during Asian morning trading on Friday October 20, as the dollar regained ground on the news that the US Senate had adopted a fiscal 2018 budget resolution on Thursday.

October 20, 2017
By Generic people page

The spot gold price was quoted at $1,283.25-1,283.65 per oz as of 04:19 BST, down $6.35 on the previous close. Trade has ranged from $1,282.75-1,289.80 so far today.

  • The dollar strengthened on Friday after the US Senate passed a budget blueprint that will help pave the way for the Republican Party’s planned $1.5 trillion tax-cut package without having to rely Democratic support.
  • ”[The news] has seen Treasury yields edge higher pushing the dollar up across most currencies with the US Dollar Index higher by 0.40% in Asia,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, said.
  • The dollar index was at 93.47 as of 04:30 BST, this after its recent low of 92.75 on October 13.
  • “The key to the remainder of the session is whether the US dollar gains and higher Treasury yields are sustained into Europe and New York. If the moves correct then gold may get a reprieve, if Europe continues to run with this baton, it could be a long day for bullish gold traders,” Halley added.

Silver, PGMs

  • In the other precious metals, the spot silver price was down $0.082 to $17.160-17.205 per oz. Platinum was flat at $920-925 per oz and palladium gained $4 to $961-966 per oz.
  • On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for December delivery was recently at 276 yuan ($41.69) per gram, and the December silver was at 3,910 yuan per kg.

Currency moves and data releases

  • The dollar index was at 93.47 as of 04:30 BST.
  • In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price increased by 0.02% to $57.24 per barrel while the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price was up by 0.14% to $51.36.
  • In equities, the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.03% to 3,369.04.
  • In US data on Thursday, weekly unemployment claims at 222,000 were below the forecast of 245,000 while the Philly Fed manufacturing index in October was 27.9, beating the previous figure of 23.8.
  • The economic agenda is fairly light today with German producer prices, EU current account, UK public sector net borrowing and US data that includes existing home sales and the Federal budget balance of note.