U.S. gold on Wednesday reached a fresh two-month high, but prices later retreated by $2.20 to below $1,250 an ounce. Increased risk appetite and a bout of profit-taking were among the cited factors for the decline.
Silver also fell slightly, dropping 0.2 percent. Other metals advanced, however. Platinum ended up 0.8 percent while palladium soared 3.6 percent.
In other markets, crude oil soared the most in a month while U.S. stocks had their best day in eight weeks.
New York precious metals closing prices follow:
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Gold for December delivery retreated 0.2 percent to $1,248.10 an ounce. It ranged from $1,244.10 to $1,256.60.
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September silver lost 3.9 cents to $19.393 an ounce. It ranged between $19.320 and $19.535.
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Platinum for October delivery gained $12.20 to end at $1,535.70 an ounce. It ranged from $1,518.60 to $1,541.20.
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Palladium for December delivery soared $18.25 to $520.10 an ounce. It ranged between $500.55 and $529.50.
In notable bullion quotes of the day:
"Gold is not cheap, so you’re getting a little selling," Leonard Kaplan, the president of Prospector Asset Management in Evanston, Illinois, said and was quoted on Bloomberg. "With interest rates so low, people are going anywhere they possibly can. Quantitative easing is good for everything."
"Right now an increase in risk appetite has undermined gold, whose safe-haven appeal has diminished but the market is still well bid. It shows good underlying support for gold as economic uncertainty remains in the background," James Steel, chief commodity analyst at HSBC, said and was quoted on Reuters.
"Noble metals added value on the back of news that South Africa’s NUM is about to strike at Northam Platinum and on fresh data indicating that auto sales — at least those in Asia- are looking robust," noted Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc.
"The fact that Chinese dealers moved nearly one million units off their lots in August, and that those in Japan witnessed the third biggest monthly sales gain ever, encouraged funds to bid the complex higher this morning," added Nadler.
In PM London bullion, the benchmark gold price was fixed to $1,246.50 an ounce, rising 50 cents from the PM price on Tuesday. Silver gained 60 cents to $19.470 an ounce. Platinum settled at $1,531.00 an ounce, advancing $16.00. Palladium rose $25.50 to $519.50 an ounce.
In United States Mint gold coin news of the day, on Thursday the U.S. Mint will issue 24 karat $10 Buchanan’s Liberty First Spouse Gold Coins. Prior to their release, it is expected that the it will be the final day for Sarah Polk First Spouse Gold Coins.
Oil and gasoline prices
Oil prices rose, registering "their biggest one-day gain in nearly a month Wednesday, after U.S. and Chinese manufacturing surveys sweetened the outlook for global oil demand after petroleum’s sharp tumble last month," wrote Laura Mandaro and Nick Godt of MarketWatch.
"Oil moves along with equities, the fundamentals don’t matter," Chip Hodge, who oversees a $9 billion natural- resource bond portfolio as senior managing director at MFC Global Investment Management in Boston, said and was quoted on Bloomberg. "Any shred of positive or negative economic news will move the oil market by a couple percentage points."
New York crude oil for October delivery rose $1.99, or 2.8 percent, to $73.91 a barrel.
The national average for regular unleaded gasoline climbed one-tenth of a cent to $2.678 a gallon, according to AAA fuel data. The price is 1.8 cents lower than a week ago, 5.7 cents down from a month back, but 7.1 cents higher than the price from a year ago.
U.S. Stocks
U.S. stocks soared Wednesday on the back of better-than-expected manufacturing data in the U.S. and China.
"It’s a combination of better industrial data out of China and the ISM data here in the United States," Mark Bronzo, an Irvington, New York-based fund manager at Security Global Investors, which oversees $21 billion, said and was quoted on Bloomberg. "People have become extremely negative and as a result the data was better than expected and you’re seeing a sharp snap back."
The Dow Jones industrial average added 254.75 points, or 2.54 percent, to 10,269.47. The S&P 500 Index advanced 30.96 points, or 2.95 percent, to 1,080.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 62.81 points, or 2.97 percent, to 2,176.84.
