Bullion & Business Weekend Report – July 19

Gold settled, remaining largely unchanged for the week after Iranian tensions appeared to ease and financial markets stabilized. Weaker crude oil prices also weighed in to help keep gold in check. Platinum experienced five pounding days of losses as lowering supply fears slammed prices down.

London silver closed to $18.55 an ounce — a loss of 17 cents compared to last Friday’s close and a drop of 14 cents for the week.

London platinum closed the week to $1,849, a staggering loss of $181 compared to its previous Friday close and a drop of $172 for the week.

London gold closed Friday to $960 an ounce, losing $3 from last Friday, but managed to squeak in a small gain of $2 for the week.

"Oil and dollar fluctuation will continue to lend direction to the precious metal in the coming sessions, with the metal vulnerable to bouts of profit-taking," said analyst James Moore from TheBullionDesk.com.

"The background noise of inflation/recession and nervous financial markets still paints a bullish picture for gold in the mid-to-longer term. "

In regards to the Iranian situation, senior Kitco analyst Jon Nadler was quoted on MarketWatch as saying,

"Improvements in the geopolitical climate ahead of upcoming negotiations between the West and Iran also played into the easing of gold prices today At the end of a very turbulent week, few participants were willing to do much more than square books

The silver, gold and platinum weekly charts and comparisons from last week are below. The weekly business recap video from Reuters and three related precious metal articles are listed as well.

CoinNews London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold and Platinum
(July 14-18)

The London Fix is one of the most used bullion quotes around the world. The London AM fix for gold and platinum begins at 10:30am GMT (5:30am in New York), and the PM fix begins at 3pm GMT (10am in New York). The London Fix for silver begins each business day at 12pm GMT (7am in New York).

London Fix figures: percent and dollar change after Friday’s close, plus previous weeks

London Fix: July 7-11

London Fix: June 30 – July 4

London Fix: June 23-27

Bullion and business related articles for the week

In related news, interesting or quick-read articles:

• July 18 – Gold futures fall more than 1% as dollar gains – MarketWatch
  Gold futures fell more than 1% Friday, as gains in the U.S. dollar encouraged traders to sell the precious metal.

• July 18 – Gold ends lower as global market fears lessen – Reuters
  Gold retraced from its session lows but still ended 1 percent lower on Friday, as signs of stability in financial markets reduced bullion’s safe-haven appeal in times of market turmoil.

• July 18 – Demand Destruction of Another Kind – Jon Nadler
  Metals markets traded sideways-to-lower on Friday, as gold continued to exhibit continuing dollar-strength related moderation and was not able to maintain the $960 value zone.

Business week overview and wrap-up by Reuters News

Gains in financial stocks help Dow snap a four week losing streak – the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snap six weeks of losses.

The three major US indexes:

• The Dow gained 49.91 points to close at 11,496.57. For the week, it gained 3.5 percent.

• The S&P 500 increased by 0.36 points, closing to 1,260.68.

• The Nasdaq dropped 29.52 points Friday to finish at 2,282.78. It gained 1.9 percent for the week.

In other world markets:

• The German DAX gained 111.38 points to close at 6,382.65.

• The Paris CAC 40 gained 73.37 points to close at 4,299.36.

• And the London FTSE 100 gained 90.1 points to close at 5,376.4.

Sasha Salama reports from New York.

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