Gold Price Lower as Investors Await News for Virus Severity

On Friday, Gold edged lower as investors are asking for details on the severity of the China virus. This started when the World Health Organization stopped short of updating about the outbreak as a global emergency.

Spot gold price edged lower by 0.2% to $1,559.28 an ounce. However, it was on track to gain 0.2% for the week. Then, U.S. gold futures fell 0.4% to trade at %1,559.30.

Senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley states, ” There is not enough information out there in the street yet to be sure that we have a negative

situation on our hand and that it would require a move into havens.”

Also, he explained that it is also the Chinese New Year, meaning the activity became muted ahead of the holidays across Asia. And this is with increasing equities, earnings, and stable U.S. data weighing on gold.

Aside from that, Asian shares climbed higher after the WHO statement that the new China virus does not yet constitute an international emergency. But still, investors remained worried about the spread of the virus ahead of the Lunar New Year, where a peak period of travel and gold demand in the region.

On Thursday’s data, it showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week. This means that the labor market further tightens.

Additional weigh on bullion, the dollar against a basket of currencies hovered near a month high hit in the last session. And this occurred after the European Central Bank kept its interest rates steady on Thursday. Now, investors pour their attention on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s first meeting of the year, scheduled on January 28 and 29.

More on the Bullion

ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes noted, “With a low-interest-rate environment, geopolitical risks, and uncertainties such as U.S. President’s impeachment, the conditions are still quite conducive to further upside in gold.”

Then, spot gold might go back into the range of $1,551 to $1,554 an ounce.

In addition to that, holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, inched higher by 0.2% to900.58 tonnes on Thursday.

Also, palladium fell 0.8% to $2,441.04 per ounce. It is currently on track to record its worst week in five, dipping about 1.6%. Silver, too, declined 0.1% to $17.77, set to register its biggest weekly shed since early-December at 1.2%. On the other hand, platinum gained 0.2% to $1,003.53 but was down 1.4% dor this week. This is its worst since the week ended December 20.

Agri Commodity: Soya Oil

Elsewhere, refined soya oil prices on Friday dipped 20 paise to Rs 875 per 10 kg in futures trade. And this is because of speculators cut their holding amid subdued demand at the spot market.

Then, on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, refined soya oil for February delivery fell by 20 paise or 0.02 percent. It is currently trading at Rs 875 per 10 kg in 54,335 lots.

Furthermore, its contracts for March declined by Rs 1.4 or 0.16 percent to trade at Rs 865 per 10 kg in 30,625 lots.