Precious Metals Pare Losses, XAU Climbs 1.7%

By jturbin Weakness in precious metals continued on Wednesday amid U.S. dollar strength and broad-based selling in the commodities complex. However, gold and silver futures bounced well off their intra-day lows to settle with only moderate losses. COMEX gold futures – per the June contract – ended down by $10.30, or 0.6%, at $1,594.20 per ounce after earlier falling to $1,578.50. Silver futures – per the COMEX July contract – dropped to $28.62 per ounce this morning but closed lower by $0.22, or 0.8%, at $29.24. While the metals declined, shares of most gold and silver companies staged an impressive comeback. The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) initially sunk as much as 2.6% to another multi-year low of 146.98. However, the XAU soon turned higher and ended the day up by 1.7% at 153.46. Notable advancers included XAU components Newmont Mining (NEM) and Silver Wheaton (SLW) – which jumped by 4.0% to $46.54 and by 2.0% to $26.94 per share. Among other precious metals, platinum futures dipped $9.10, or 0.6%, to $1,499.20 per ounce while palladium retreated $9.20, or 1.5%, to $613.65 per ounce. As for cyclical commodities, copper futures fell $0.02, or 0.5%, to $3.66 per pound and crude oil inched lower by $0.20, or 0.2%, to $96.81 per barrel. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/339215/20120509/precious-metals-pare-losses-xau-climbs-1-7.htm