Georgetown: The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry along with the Guyana Gold Board continues to monitor the trade of gold and the movements in prices over the last couple of weeks.
Gold held near the lowest since 2010 on expectations the Federal Reserve is preparing to raise interest rates while other central banks add stimulus, boosting the dollar and hurting bullion demand.
Gold is heading for the first back-to-back annual retreat since 2000. The European Central Bank sets policy on October 6 after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly added to stimulus last week. The Fed is moving closer to its first rate increase in eight years after ending a bond-buying programme on schedule last month.
Gold futures were little changed in New York as a decline in US equities boosted demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment. Gold tumbled almost five per cent last week, dropping to the lowest since 2010 on October 31. The weakness in the equity market is providing some support to gold. Also, the dollar is taking a breather, and that is helping gold.
The metal swung between gains and losses, dropping as much as 0.5 per cent and climbing 0.4 per cent earlier on the European Commission’s cut to euro-area growth forecasts.
The bullion is heading for the first back-to-back annual retreat since 1998 as the dollar surged after Japan expanded monetary stimulus last week and the Federal Reserve moved closer to its first interest-rate increase in eight years.
The precious metal dropped to US$1,160.50 on October 31, the lowest for a most-active contract since July 2010.
Gold just holds above US$1,158, the 61.8 per cent retracement level of the move from the October 2008 low to the September 2011 highs. The gold bears remain in firm technical control as prices trade not far above the recent four-year low. The key “outside markets” remain in overall bearish postures for the precious metals—a stronger US dollar and slumping crude oil prices.
The “outside market” feature was the drop in crude oil prices to a three-year low of US$75.84. Combined with the appreciating value of the US dollar, these two outside markets have been a major influence on other markets the past few weeks—and especially a negative force for the raw commodity sector, including gold and silver.
The other feature was the Japanese yen which has slumped against its world rivals following the Bank of Japan move on Friday with a new batch of monetary stimulus. While the European stock markets were under selling pressure following news the European Commission reported it expects European Union gross domestic product to rise by just 0.8 per cent in 2014.
That is down from the 1.2 per cent growth-rate forecast the agency issued in the spring. The Commission cited the Russia-Ukraine tensions as a major contributor to the slowing EU growth the past few months.
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